Sibanda replaces Williams in Zimbabwe squad

Sean Williams, the Zimbabwe left-hand batsman, has been forced to pull out of the rest of the World Cup with a fractured thumb and will be replaced by batsman Vusi Sibanda. William fractured his right thumb during a training session on Thursday in Ahmedabad, a day before Zimbabwe's clash with New Zealand. He missed the match, and after gaining the ICC's approval, Zimbabwe announced Sibanda as his replacement.

Williams featured in Zimbabwe's first two matches of the tournament, scoring 28 against Australia and 30 against Canada.

The call up for Sibanda means Hamilton Masakadza, one of Zimbabwe's most experienced batsmen and a surprise exclusion from the original World Cup squad, continues to be ignored. Sibanda has played 85 one-day internationals himself, and featured in Zimbabwe's 2007 World Cup campaign. He lost his place in the squad for Zimbabwe's tours of South Africa and Bangladesh last year, and consequently for the 2011 World Cup, after a string of poor scores in 2010.

His recall comes on the back of a strong showing in Zimbabwe's domestic four-day competition, the Castle Logan Cup, in which he has scored three centuries this season for Mid West Rhinos.

Williams is the fourth player Zimbabwe have had to replace since they announced their original squad of 15. Sean Ervine pulled out of the squad in order to continue playing for Hampshire. His replacement Tino Mawoyo then had to pull out too, due to an abdominal muscle tear and Terry Duffin was called in. Zimbabwe also lost seamer Ed Rainsford to an ankle injury, with Tinashe Panyangara coming in as his replacement.

Zimbabwe's next match is against Sri Lanka on March 10 in Pallekele.