Howzat! Cricket stars hit the front page

Some of England's most talented cricketers have been sharpening their skills this winter with the help of the country's top sportswriters.

However, the journalists from the Press Association have not been teaching them how to play a forward defensive or bowl with reverse swing. Instead they were showing them how to write in neat and tidy paragraphs and avoid being sued for libel!

PA, one of the world's largest suppliers of news and sport information, has teamed up with the Professional Cricketers Association (PCA) to help the nine players, including Carl Crowe, Leicestershire's 25 year old batsman and Essex's 36 year old spin bowler, Peter Such, improve their writing techniques.

Crowe explained why he had jumped at the chance of taking the course. He said: "We write match reports, previews and a weekly column for the website CricInfo.com.

"Writing has been quite good for my game as well because it makes me take a step back and think about how I and the team have played and what we could have done better.

"The course has been very interesting. It was good just to look around PA and see how people operate. We have covered a wide range of topics.

"The one I got most use out of was how to approach writing an article. Instead of just giving a description of what happened, the correct way is to start the most important or interesting occurrence of the day."

Such, capped 11 times by England, said: "I've really enjoyed it, particularly the section on law and libel. It was fun to try and be creative with our writing. I'm looking forward to next season and writing on the website with my new skills."

The two-day course held at PA's Bishop's Manor training headquarters in Howden, East Yorkshire, included most aspects of a journalist's work, each presented by an expert in that particular field.

Phil Ascough, Product Development Manager, PA Sport, said: "They all really got into the swing of things. We were very impressed with the improvements they all made in such a short space of time.

"We set them a variety of tasks to write about, such as sledging. One thing that comes through is the love that these players have for the game of cricket. I'm sure a career writing about the game awaits a couple of them when they retire."

The players taking part on the course were their county's PCA representative. They were, Carl Crowe, Leicestershire; Kevin Dean, Derbyshire; Peter Such, Essex; Paul Taylor, Northants; Martin Speight, Durham; Graham Rose, Somerset; Gary Yates, Lancashire; Paul Hutchinson, Yorkshire; David Fulton, Kent.

Issued on December 7 2000 on behalf of the Press Association by HR Media, Unit 311, The Workstation, 15 Paternoster Row, Sheffield S1 2BX. For further information please contact Richard Fidler at HRM, telephone 0114 2210380.