Murray Birnie dies in South Africa

Murray Birnie, the Lancashire vice-chairman, has died of a heart attack in Johannesburg. He had been a Lancashire committee member for 24 years, and was in South Africa to watch the fourth Test at the Wanderers.

Birnie, 67, a chartered mechanical engineer from Haslingden, joined the Lancashire committee in 1981 after playing local league cricket for 27 years. He was involved in all the major building developments at Old Trafford in recent years, and also organised highly successful testimonials for Lancashire stalwarts David Hughes, David Lloyd and Lancashire's current chairman Jack Simmons.