Harare, January 12, 2011 - Zimbabwe announced its World Cup Cricket Squad which saw five top players dropped for poor performance.

The players dropped from the 20-men provisional squad are Njabulo Ncube, Terrence Duffin, Tino Mawoyo, Tinashe Panyangarara and Vusi Sibanda.

Alistair Campbell, the Zimbabwe chairman of selectors, said players were selected from the local franchise teams only.

The 2011 ICC World Cup will be hosted by three South Asian Test cricket playing countries: India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. As per ICC regulations, all 10 full members automatically qualify for the World Cup, including Zimbabwe which has given up their test playing status until the standard of their team improves.

Zimbabwe are in the same group with Kenya and South Africa.

The World Cup will use cricket's One Day International format, with fourteen national cricket teams scheduled to compete. The World Cup will take place between February and early April 2011, with the first match to be played on 19 February 2011 with co-hosts India and Bangladesh facing off at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Mirpur, Dhaka.The opening ceremony will be held on 17 February 2011, two days before the start of the tournament.

There are few surprises to the Zimbabwe World Cup squad. The axe has always been hovering over Hamilton Masakadza, The opening batsman Masakadza has paid a heavy price for his poor form in 2010. Masakadza missed out on selection for the tournament in both 2003 and 2007 - the first time because he was at university in South Africa and the second because of a dip in form and a perceived lack of fluency in limited-overs cricket.

Zimbabwe 15-man squad: Elton Chigumbura (capt), Regis Chakabva,Charles Coventry, Graeme Cremer, Craig Ervine, Sean Ervine, Greg Lamb, , Shingirai Masakadza, Chris Mpofu,, Ray Price, Ed Rainsford, Vusi Sibanda, Tatenda Taibu, Brendan Taylor, Prosper Utseya, Sean Williams.

Non-travelling reserves
Terrence Duffin, Tinotenda Mawoyo, Njabulo Ncube, Tinashe Panyangara, Vusi Sibanda