India's participation in the World Cup hinges on the outcome of Friday's meeting of the International Cricket Council Development International, the marketing arm of the world body, which will decide whether or not to accept the Indian cricketers' conditionally signed contracts.

Board of Control for Cricket in India president Jagmohan Dalmiya said the IDI, which will meet via teleconference, has the option of allowing India to participate in the World Cup while leaving the 'commercial after-effects' to be settled later at an appropriate forum.

LG Electronics India, one of the World Cup's major sponsors, plans to approach the Supreme Court to appeal against the Delhi high court's Wednesday order barring outflow of foreign exchange if India was barred from playing the World Cup.

LG India General Manager (Marketing) Ganesh Mahalingam termed the public interest litigation on the vexed contracts issue as 'a private interest litigation,' and said 'we have been made victims in a commercial battle between the BCCI and ICC.'

He claimed LG India's sponsorship agreement with the ICC could not stand the scrutiny of Indian courts because 'as per the agreement, any dispute with the ICC will be handled in British courts.'

Mahalingam said the issue of Indian players participating in the World Cup was the BCCI's responsibility. 'The players must take the BCCI to court for not agreeing to their obligations. Unfortunately, that has not happened,' he said.

Shane Warne's retirement from limited overs cricket is a message to the game's administrators that one-day cricket has reached overload.

The amount of one-day cricket has almost doubled since 1993 when Warne made his ODI debut. Back then Australia played 17 games a year. This year they will play more than double that.

A few weeks ago Australian players believed a two-week window in August would offer them a break in a cluttered calendar. Then came along a tri-series tournament in Morocco.

Something had to give. And it has.

Australian captain Ricky Ponting on Warne's retirement from one-day internationals.

Were you shocked by Shane Warne's decision to quit the one-day scene?

No, not really.

He's been talking about it for a while.

At some stage he was going to pick between one of the two games.

There's an opportunity for him to take 500, 600 Test wickets and be the leading wicket-taker of all time.

In Test cricket he can express himself the best, he can bowl long spells and show his full repertoire.

I guess when it came down to a choice between one-day and Test cricket it was reasonably easy for him.

Was it a smart move by Warne to try and prolong his Test career?

Only Shane can answer that.

He obviously feels he needed to ease up on the workload.

Everyone's different.

How much of a loss will he be to the one-day team?

He'll obviously be a loss.

He'll leave a dent, but the good thing is Brad Hogg has stepped up already in the couple of games he's played.

There are always players ready to step up to the plate.

Cricket survives, it doesn't rely on one or two players.

It will evolve and keep going.

Australian Cricketers Association Chief Executive Tim May expressed concern at player burnout in the wake of Warne's retirement from the limited overs game.

'With the prolific scheduling of international matches, player burnout is a career-threatening issue facing all international cricketers,' May said.

'This was highlighted and acknowledged by the International Cricket Council at the captains meeting in July 2002, and further reinforced when ICC management issued guidelines for international programming including a maximum of 15 Tests and 30 one-day internationals per year, minimum breaks between matches and a reduction of meaningless one-day matches.'

England and Wales Cricket Board chairman David Morgan has warned England could still pull out of their World Cup match in Zimbabwe unless the players' safety can be guaranteed.

ICC Chief Executive Malcolm Speed is currently visiting Zimbabwe with Dr Ali Bacher, chief executive, World Cup Organising Committee.

They will report back to the ICC board on Friday when a final decision on World Cup matches in Zimbabwe will be made.

The visit follows further unrest in Zimbabwe on Tuesday, when one person died and seven others injured after petrol bombs were thrown at an office in Harare.

The Power Cricket tie scheduled for this weekend at the Millennium Stadium in Melbourne has been postponed.

The games between a Rest of the World XI and an Asian XI were to take place on January 25 and 26, with the teams competing for a victory prize of £25,000.

When Pakistan cricketers expressed their inability to play, citing World Cup preparations, the event was moved to the spring.

Illustration: Uttam Ghosh