Cricket: Lara Called in By West Indies

Brian Lara was last night included in the West Indian squad for their opening Test against South Africa next week after initially being left out of the line-up due to a row over sponsorship.

An invitation and match contract for the Test in Guyana was sent to Lara yesterday with the left-handed batsman, the captain of his country until he was omitted from the squad earlier this month, given 24 hours to respond to his selection. The West Indies will name the squad later today although it will not include the six other players - Dwayne Bravo, Fidel Edwards, Chris Gayle, Ravi Rampaul, Sarwan and Dwayne Smith - who were initially banned alongside Lara.

The players were originally omitted because they had personal sponsorship deals that conflicted with the team contract with Digicel, the biggest in West Indian cricket history worth around $20m (£10.4m) over five years. Lawyers, however, advised the board that of the seven players, only Lara could be considered for selection because he had entered into his deal with Cable & Wireless as an individual and not a member of West Indies' team.

Half-centuries from Vikram Solanki (61) and Ian Bell (58) and Richard Dawson'sfour wickets eased England A to a comfortable 84-run victory over a Sri Lanka Academy XI in their one-day match in Colombo yesterday.