Loughborough University, who last week won the inaugural ECB Universities Championship under the guidance of Former England Test star Graham Dilley, tomorrow host the 'village' side Lashings for a one-day match.

"Given the publicity Lashings has received recently, we are naturally pleased they accepted our challenge and are bringing a team to Loughborough tomorrow." commented Guy Jackson, Director of Cricket at Loughborough which houses one of the six ECB Centres of Excellence.

He added "University cricket is changing shape rapidly and Loughborough has emerged as one of the top sides. We know Lashings have played Oxford and other University sides but we beat Oxford on Monday by ten wickets in the semi-finals of the British Universities Championships.

The Lashings side may not feature recent addition Shoaib Akhtar who is due to play his first match for Lashings on Friday, but West Indians Richie Richardson, Jimmy Adams, Stuart Williams, Junior Murray and Franklyn Rose are available to play.

Coach Graham Dilley, himself a veteran of West Indian head to heads added "There is a powerful wind of change blowing through University cricket and I am delighted to be part of it. It's great Loughborough's results have been so good this year, including victories over Oxford, Cambridge and Durham, going some way to show that Oxbridge are no longer the dominant forces in University cricket." he added.

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The Cricket Centres of Excellence:

ECB funded University Centres of Cricket Excellence (UCCE) plan to ensure that more aspiring county professionals have an opportunity to gain academic qualifications, and simultaneously to inject more competitiveness into University Cricket.

The scheme boasts some of nation's best coaches, including Graeme Fowler (Durham Univ) and Graham Dilley (Loughborough Univ), and some of finest young playing talents in the game.

While Loughborough have taken the inaugural UCCE Championship, Loughborough and Durham will also contest a 'final' for the Championship's two top sides at Lord's on June 27th.

© Loughborough University