C Ellis: England Cricket Diary (6 Jun 1998)

AUSTRALIA A's powerful tour party will be woefully short of quality opposition following the decision to lop off the English leg of their tour next month

06-Jun-1998

6 June 1998

England Cricket Diary

By Clive Ellis

Australia to miss England

AUSTRALIA A's powerful tour party will be woefully short of quality opposition following the decision to lop off the English leg of their tour next month.

The Australians, led by Michael DiVenuto and including half a dozen Test players, were due to be fulfilling three-day fixtures against Somerset, Kent and Sussex, as well as two one-dayers against Durham, but they will now be restricted to a low-key programme in Scotland and Ireland.

Money, inevitably, is at the root of the problem. Tim Lamb, the England and Wales Cricket Board chief executive, said: "It appears there was some misunderstanding over the financing of the tour. The Australian Cricket Board were under the impression they

would receive a greater contribution from the ICC development fund towards their touring costs."

NEXT month's Benson and Hedges Cup final may not, after all, be the sponsors' farewell to English cricket.

The Supercup is hardly everyone's idea of a meaningful addition to the programme, offering a one-day prize to the top eight sides in the championship, but it could keep B & H on board.

Their involvement began in 1972 and if they back the Supercup, they will be able to see out their original five-year deal, which finishes at the end of the 2000 season.

THE MCC are likely to edge a bit closer to opening their membership doors to women by finding out just what made 6,500 men reject the idea at February's special general meeting.

Monday's Telegraph featured an announcement that members could welcome women into the Lord's pavilion as guests for the Eton v Harrow match, Oxford v Cambridge and for the women's one-day international against Australia on July 21.

Rachael Heyhoe Flint, whose application for membership in 1991 sparked the long-running debate, welcomed the decision as a "small token" of MCC flexibility and was also encouraged by the stance of Colin Ingleby-Mackenzie, the MCC president.

"It will help to demonstrate that women will respect the traditions of Lord's," said Heyhoe Flint, who also believes that September's questionnaire will clarify the concerns of MCC members and guarantee a more focused approach when the next vote is taken.

GRAEME HICK'S 100th hundred provoked extended celebrations at Worcester on Sunday, but there was a key element missing for former chairman Duncan Fearnley.

Hick had remained loyal to Fearnley bats throughout his career - a 405 model was launched on the back of his epic innings against Somerset in 1988 - until the end of last season, when he was lured away by Slazenger.

His new employers have been rewarded with the rapidly compiled four centuries which have carried Hick to the landmark, but an innings to match the Slazenger 600 he now uses is probably beyond even his appetite for runs.

Source :: Electronic Telegraph (https://www.telegraph.co.uk)