The selection panel of the West Indies Cricket Board yesterday named a preliminary 30-member West Indies squad to contest the inaugural ICC Twenty20 World Cup in South Africa from September 11 to 24.

The International Cricket Council (ICC) and Cricket South Africa officially launched the tournament yesterday at the Northgate Dome in Johannesburg.

The 13-day, 12-nation event starts at the Wanderers, Johannesburg on Tuesday, 11 September 2007 with the first match between hosts, South Africa and the West Indies. The final will be held at the same venue on Monday, September 24.

The tournament will be played in three venues around the country, the Wanderers, Johannesburg; Kingsmead, Durban and Newlands, Cape Town.

ICC chief executive officer Malcolm Speed said: "ICC World Twenty20 South Africa 2007 representsone of the most exciting developments in the game of cricket within the past 30 years.

"It will bring many of the best international players from around the world together for a short, sharp event we believe will capture the public's imagination both in South Africa and around the world."

According to the organisers, preparations are at an advanced stage at all three venues around South Africa.

The preliminary West Indies squad is:

Carlton Baugh Jr, Dwayne Bravo, Patrick Browne, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Pedro Collins, Esuan Crandon, Narsingh Deonarine, Travis Dowlin, Fidel Edwards, Rayad Emrit, Andre Fletcher, Chris Gayle, Rawl Lewis, Runako Morton, Mahendra Nagamootoo, Brenton Parchment, William Perkins, Kieron Pollard, Daren Powell, Denesh Ramdin, Ravi Rampaul, Austin Richards Jr, Marlon Samuels, Darren Sammy, Ramnaresh Sarwan, Lendl Simmons, Devon Smith, Dwayne Smith, Jerome Taylor, Gavin Tonge.