cricket20 :: Text Edition

cricket20

Text Edition

Top Stories

England veto Alex's Twenty20 dash

Warwickshire's hopes of including Alex Loudon in their side for this evening's floodlit Twenty20 Cup match against Glamorgan in Cardiff have been scuppered by the ECB.

The batsman/off-spinner, who made his one-day international debut for England against Sri Lanka last week, was keen to turn out even though he is due to play for England A against Pakistan at Canterbury tomorrow morning.

Loudon was prepared to make a late-night cross-country dash to Kent and Warwickshire had even discussed the possibility of hiring a helicopter to ensure that he arrived in Canterbury fresh for the tour match.

But the England A management have insisted that Loudon reports to Canterbury this evening along with the other players, including county team mate Ian Bell.

Loudon played an important part in Warwickshire's emphatic victory over Somerset at Taunton on Sunday when he took two key wickets.

The blow of his absence will be partly softened by the probable return to action of former England batsman Nick Knight.

He came through a strenuous training session at Edgbaston yesterday and, provided he suffers no adverse reaction today, will make his first appearance in the competition this season.

Batsman Navdeep Poonia and allrounder Tim Groenewald have also been added to the side that was on duty at Taunton.

Meanwhile Warwickshire expect to complete the signing of South African slow left-armer Paul Harris within the next 24 hours.

Harris agreed terms on Monday on a contract that will take him to the end of the 2007 season.

He still needs clearance from the South Africa Board to play county cricket as a Kolpak-registered European player and also has some minor contractual issues to resolve with Fleetwood, the Northern League club where he had been playing as a professional, before he can play for Warwickshire.

If all goes well, Harris could be in line to make his debut in Friday's Twenty20 Cup derby against Worcestershire at Edgbaston.

Gloucestershire moved level on points with Glamorgan at the top of the Midlands, West & Wales group with a seven-wicket win at Bristol.

Glamorgan's first defeat in this season's competition came after they had set a testing target of 162-5 in a match reduced to 17 overs a side by rain - David Hemp top-scoring with 42.

In reply, Gloucestershire raced to 61 without loss off five overs thanks to Ian Harvey (48 off 21 balls) and Craig Spearman (31 off 22).

After three wickets had put Glamorgan back in the game, Chris Taylor finished things off with a brilliant unbeaten 55 - guiding the home team to victory with 10 balls to spare.

Taylor hit seven fours and two sixes, one of them to win the match, in his 24-ball innings and shared an unbeaten stand of 68 from 28 balls with Alex Gidman (18).

Text Edition Home

Cricket | Champions League Cricket | IPL | ICL | Twenty20 World Cup