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Hampshire are in a hole over pitch

The pitches in the World Cup have been excellent, bearing in mind the cold, wet start to the tournament in May, and the groundsmen generally have not been given enough praise for their professionalism in what is not an exact science.

Hampshire realise they have problems with the United Services ground at Portsmouth, where gangs of workers on their hands and knees have been attempting to fill aeration holes by hand, pressing in the soil with pencils and nail heads.

Hampshire will switch their championship matches against Lancashire and Sussex to Southampton if Portsmouth is damned by a report from Harry Brind, an England and Wales Cricket Board pitches consultant.

A contracted company have attempted to change the pitch's character since Doug Welch's retirement last summer as groundsman after 50 years at Burnaby Roard, but aeration was left too late and the holes have not closed.

The awards dinner at the Savoy Hotel for the Federation of International Cricketers' Association (president: Barry Richards) went well under the sponsorship of the accountancy firm PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Only two players could accept their awards in person - Brian Lara as international player of the year and Anil Kumble for his feat of taking all 10 wickets.

Incredibly, Sky Television ended their live broadcast before Kumble reached the stage. They must have forgotten the object of the exercise.

New Zealand could start their tour with an interesting comparison if they play Brooke Walker, their exciting new leg-spinner, for the opening three-day game at Oxford, starting on Monday. British Universities have selected Greg Loveridge, Walker's main rival, now studying at Cambridge. Loveridge was selected for a Test as first choice leg-spinner four years ago, but injury prevented him bowling an over.

British Universities (v NZ, at Oxford, June 21-23): *Q Hughes, Imraan Mohammed (Cambridge), T Roberts, E Wilson, B Hutton, R Driver (Durham), G Loveridge (Cambridge), -C Hellings (Loughborough), J Lawrence, S Francis (Durham), D Mather, T Hicks (Oxford).