In all, eight matches will be played in the tournament, billed as the biggest and most prestigious cricket carnival after the World Cup.

All the matches will be 50 over-a-side, day and night affairs, Bangladesh Cricket Board general secretary Syed Ashraful Haq told newsmen today.

Meanwhile, Zimbabwe and England had strenuous nets yesterday in two sessions at the game venue.

A 19-member New Zealand squad led by Stephen Fleming is arriving here tonight, Haq said. The Kiwis are without the services of world class all-rounder Chris Cairns who is nursing an injury.

New Zealand and Zimbabwe will play the inaugural match (pre-quarter finals).

New Zealand team: Stephen Fleming (captain), Geoff Alcott, Mark Bailey, Simon Doull, Mathew Home, Shayne O'Connor, Alex Tait, Paul Wiseman, Nathan Astle, Mathew Bell, Chris Harris, CraigMcMillan, Adam Parore and Daniel Vettori.

Officials: Steve Rixoh (coach), John Graham (manager), Mark Harrison (physio), Ashley Ross (technical adviser) and Gilbert Enoka (coordinator).

Former Indian captain Ravi Shastri, Barry Richard of South Africa, Martin Crowe of New Zealand, Geoffrey Boycott and Tony Greig of England and Michael Holding of West Indies will form the team of commentators for the tournament.

Matches will be played from 1400 hrs to 2145 hrs with a break of 45 minutes from 1730 hrs, the BCB general secretary said.

Moody ruled out

BRISBANE: English-born batsman Andrew Symonds today replaced the injured Tom Moody in the Australian squad for the ICC Trophy cricket tournament in Bangladesh.

However, Symonds will not fly out until Sunday. He will join other squad members Adam Gilchrist, Brendon Julian and Damien Martyn on the flight immediately after the final day of the Queensland-West Australia Sheffield Shield match scheduled to finish on Saturday.

Australia playtheir first match of the ICC tournament on October 28.

Symonds hit four Sheffield Shield centuries last season. Moody was forced to withdraw after aggravating a knee injury suffered during the Commonwealth Games tournament in Kuala Lumpur.

Bangla fans queue for hours

Bangladeshi cricket fans stood for hours in long queues for a chance to get one of the coveted tickets to the 10-day Mini World Cup which went on sale at banks here today.

Bangladesh cricket board officials said nearly 30,000 tickets in three categories would be sold on a ``first come, first served basis.'' Meanwhile, the International Cricket Council (ICC) has announced the names of umpires and match referees for the first five matches of the $400,000 Mini World Cup scheduled to start on saturday.

West Indian Steve Bucknor and England's Peter Willey will stand as umpires in the opening match between New Zealand and Zimbabwe on Saturday.

Other umpires selected for the nine-nation Cup are Srinivas Venkataraghvan of India, SteveDunn of New Zealand and Dave Orchard of South Africa.