Flintoff dropped as England vice-captain

England's Andrew Flintoff was sacked as World Cup vice-captain and dropped for their Group C game against Canada this morning after a late-night drinking session in St Lucia.

However, team management decided against sending the 29-year-old all-rounder home after the incident on Friday night following their six-wicket defeat by New Zealand.

British newspapers had reported that Flintoff had to be fished out of the sea after capsizing a pedal boat in the sea following a drinking session.

A statement from the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) said five other players had also been fined for breaching discipline.

It added that this was not the first time that Flintoff, considered one of the world's greatest all-rounders and a key figure in their famous 2005 Ashes win over Australia, had been involved in such an episode.

"Andrew Flintoff has been given warnings about his conduct and disciplined for previous incidents of this nature," England head coach Duncan Fletcher was quoted as saying in the statement.

"In light of this and due to the serious nature of the incident which he was involved in at the hotel on Friday night, we have decided to take further disciplinary action against him.

"Andrew has been made fully aware of the team management's concerns and the fact that the ECB considers this type of behaviour to be totally unacceptable.

"He will remain with the World Cup squad and be available for selection for our next match against Kenya.

"All players involved wish to express their sincere regret for the embarrassment caused to their team mates, the England supporters and the ECB."

More World Cup warm-up results

Here's a quick run down of the results from Friday's World Cup warm-up matches:

West Indies 85 (25.5 ov) vs. India 1/86 (18.3 ov)
India winners by 9 wickets

England 197 (48.3 ov) vs. Australia 5/200 (40.5 ov)
Australia winners by 5 wickets

South Africa 199 (48.3 ov) vs. Pakistan 3/200 (44.3 ov)
Pakistan winners by 7 wickets

New Zealand 285/8 (50 ov) vs. Sri Lanka 267 (50 ov)
New Zealand winners by 18 runs

Convincing wins for Australia and Pakistan and a very poor showing by the hosts!

England down Bermuda in World Cup warm-up

England has thrashed Bermuda by 241 runs in the first of their World Cup warm up matches. England posted a respectable 8/286 after 120kg Bermuda spinner Dwayne Leverock took 2/32 including the scalp of Kevin Pietersen.

"I have been the leading wicket-taker for Bermuda for the last four years. The wicket gave me some turn and bounce so I used it to my advantage." said Leverock.

The 35-year-old left-armer, who was a 110 metre hurdler as a teenager, said he had slimmed down to about 19 stone, or 120kg for the World Cup.

Leverock's good work wasn't supported by the Bermuda batsmen, who were bowled out for just 45 after 22.2 overs, no doubt fueling debate over whether minor nations should be included in the World Cup.

World Cup Squads

Here are the squads / teams for the 2007 Cricket World Cup...

Australia:
Ricky Ponting (Captain), Adam Gilchrist, Glenn McGrath, Andrew Symonds, Matt Hayden, Michael Clark, Brad Hogg, Michael Hussey, Shane Watson, Nathan Bracken, Stuart Clark, Brad Haddin, Mitchell Johnson, Brad Hodge, Shaun Tait

Bangladesh
Habibul Bashar (Captain), Shahriar Nafees, Abdur Razzak, Aftab Ahmed, Javed Omar, Mashrafe Mortaza, Mohammad Ashraful, Mohammad Rafique, Mushfiqur Rahim (wicketkeeper), Rajin Saleh, Saqibul Hasan, Shahadat Hossain, Syed Rasel, Tamim Iqbal, Tapash Baisya

Bermuda
Irvine Romaine (Captain), Janeiro Tucker, Saleem Mukuddem, Dwayne Leverock, Dean Minors, David Hemp, Kevin Hurdle, Lionel Cann, Kwame Tucker, Clay Smith, Malachi Jones, Steven Outerbridge, Delyone Borden, Stefan Kelly, Oliver Pitcher

Canada
John Davison (Captain), Anderson Cummins, Ashish Bagai, Desmond Chumney, Sunil Dhaniram, Henry Osinde, Abdool Samad, George Codrington, Umar Bhatti, Kevin Sandher, Ashif Mulla, Qaiser Ali, Ian Billcliff, Austin Codrington, Geoff Barnett

England
Michael Vaughan (Captain), Andrew Flintoff, Paul Collingwood, Andrew Strauss, James Anderson, Kevin Pietersen, Ian Bell, Jamie Dalrymple, Liam Plunkett, Sajid Mahmood, Edmund Joyce, Jonathan Lewis, Paul Nixon, Monty Panesar, Ravinder Bopara

Kenya
Stephen Tikolo (Captain), Thomas Odoyo, Ravindu Shah, Tony Suji, Collins Obuya, Peter Ochieng, David Obuya, Jimmy Kamande, Tanmay Mishra, Maurice Ouma, Nehemiah Odhiambo, Hiren Varaiya, Lameck Onyango, Malhar Patel, Rajesh Bhudia

India
Rahul Dravid (Captain), Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Sourav Ganguly, Robin Uthappa, Yuvraj Singh, Dinesh Kaarthick, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Harbhajan Singh, Anil Kumble, Zaheer Khan, Ajit Agarkar, Munaf Patel, Irfan Pathan and S Sreesanth

Ireland
Trent Johnston (Captain), Kyle McCallan, Andre Botha, Andrew White, Niall O'Brien, Dave Langford-Smith, Kevin O'Brien, William Porterfield, Jeremy Bray, Eoin Morgan, John Mooney, Peter Gillespie, Paul Mooney, Kenneth Carroll, Boyd Rankin

New Zealand
Stephen Fleming (Captain), Daniel Vettori, Craig McMillan, Scott Styris, Brendon McCullum, Lou Vincent, Jacob Oram, Daryl Tuffey, Shane Bond, James Franklin, Peter Fulton, Ross Taylor, Jeetan Patel, Mark Gillespie, Michael Mason

Pakistan
Inzamam-ul-Haq (Captain), Shahid Afridi, Mohammad Yousuf, Younis Khan, Azhar Mahmood, Shoaib Malik, Muhammad Sami, Imran Nazir, Kamran Akmal, Naved-ul-Hasan, Mohammad Hafeez, Iftikhar Anjum, Umar Gul, Danish Kaneria, Yasir Arafat

Scotland
Craig Wright (Captain), Dougie Brown, Gavin Hamilton, John Blain, Neil McCallum, Ryan Watson, Ross Lyons, Fraser Watts, Paul Hoffmann, Colin Smith, Majid Haq, Navdeep Poonia, Dewald Nel, Douglas Lockhart, Glenn Rogers

South Africa
Graeme Smith (Captain), Shaun Pollock, Jacques Kallis, Mark Boucher, Herschelle Gibbs, Makhaya Ntini, Andrew Hall, Justin Kemp, Andre Nel, Ashwell Prince, Charl Langeveldt, Roger Telemachus, Robin Peterson, AB de Villiers, Loots Bosman

Sri Lanka
Mahela Jayawardene (Captain), Sanath Jayasuriya, Chaminda Vaas, M Muralitharan, Marvan Atapattu, Kumar Sangakkara, Russel Arnold, Tillekeratne Dilshan, Dilhara Fernando, Farveez Maharoof, Upul Tharanga, Lasith Malinga, Malinga Bandara, Nuwan Kulasekara, Chamara Silva

The Netherlands
Luuk Van Troost (Captain), Tim De Leede, Bas Zuiderent, Daan van Bunge, Jeroen Smits, Edgar Schiferli, Ryan ten Doeschate, Peter Borren, Alexei Kervezee, Darron Reekers, Billy Stelling, Adeel Raja, Mohammad Kashif, Mark Jonkman, Eric Szwarczynski

West Indies
Brian Lara (Captain), Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Chris Gayle, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Marlon Samuels, Corey Collymore, Dwayne Bravo, Ian Bradshaw, Dwayne Smith, Jerome Taylor, Denesh Ramdin, Daren Powell, Devon Smith, Lendl Simmons, Kieron Pollard

Zimbabwe
Prosper Utseya (Captain), Stuart Matsikenyeri, Brendan Taylor, Gary Brent, Elton Chigumbura, Vusimuzi Sibanda, Anthony Ireland, Edward Rainsford, Justice Chibhabha, Terrence Duffin, Tawanda Mupariwa, Chris Mpofu, Sean Williams, Keith Dabengwa, Friday Kasteni

Vaughan ready for World Cup

English captain Michael Vaughan, who has played in just 3 of Englands last 35 one-day internationals after battling a knee and then a hamstring injury says he will be right for the World Cup - "Hamstrings are very vulnerable but everything has gone very well in training indoors, the next stage is getting out on to the grass in the warm-up game.

"I have spoken too much about injuries, I just want to play. I don't enjoy being on the physio's bed constantly being asked questions about my knee and my hamstring - I am feeling all right.

"There is no way I'll be playing a full part in the game against Bermuda, I have just got to try and build it up and I am hoping to get some time in the middle.

"These warm-up games are very much about trying to get everyone right."

England still has injury concerns with Kevin Pietersen (rib) and bowlers James Anderson (back) and Jon Lewis (achilles), however Vaughan is confident they'll be right to go, "The only question mark has been Jon Lewis because he has not had any cricket, but he will be looking to bowl his 10 overs in the warm-up games."

Vaughan also fancies the team's chances after recent positive performances "I think we are in a lot better position than we were at the end of January, we have got an opportunity to create something special.

"We haven't really turned up at a World Cup since way back in 1992 and it is about time we did.

"This group of players has got a great opportunity of being the first England team for 15 years to go on and be successful."