Congratulations to the Czech Republic, Norway and Finalnd who were all elected to Affiliate Member status at the recent ICC meeting. We welcome them to the ever-expanding community of Associate and Affiliate Member cricketing nations in Europe. The Greek national team are running through final preparations before crickets version of Euro 2000 begins in Scotland in July. The team played two final warm up games in conditions rather warmer than they will have to cope with in Glasgow. With temperatures soaring to as high as 38C, the Greek side played a Pakistan ex-patriot XI who had flown into Corfu from Athens for a mini tour. The touring team were strong, and beat the home side in both the limited overs matches with just a couple of balls to spare. The squad were also put through their paces in a series of practice sessions by coach Tim Dellor, who was in Corfu to help pick the final squad of 14 players. Greece will join up with Portugal at Bradfield College in Berkshire on July 15th to start their two week long UK tour. The first week will be a training camp run by Greek and Portugese national coaches Tim Dellor and Richard Holdsworth. Former New Zealand batsmen Martin Crowe is also expected to be joining the coaching team. The Championships start in Scotland on July 21st. Norwegian cricket has developed a strong basis, mainly through the activities of the Asian ex-patriot community that has a well-established league structure of club cricket. However, there is now a realisation that to make significant growth it will be necessary to make inroads into the local community, possibly using second generation immigrants as the key. With this in mind, ECC Coach Ralph Dellor visited Oslo between 15th and 18th June to run an introduction to coaching course attended by 8 participants keen to take part in development work. The candidates were shown how to run a coaching session and received specific tuition on various basic techniques in order that they would be able to run similar sessions in schools or junior club sections. It is hoped that they will play their part in the development of Norwegian cricket by using their new abilities and going on eventually to take a full Level 1 coaching course. In the international between Luxembourg and France at Walferdange on June 12, France were 64 for 6 chasing 257 after 20 of their 50 overs. 16 year old Sulanga came in at number 8 to join Hewitt in a partnership which lasted 23 overs. Then Hewitt and Ramachandran hit 79 off 6.4 overs to win the game! Luxembourg 257-8 (50 overs, Paul 129, Ramachandran 46, Whitten 37, Sugewa 4-30) France 261-9 (49.4 overs, Hewitt 154, Sulanga 32, Guy 31*, Wykes 4-9, Evans 2-36). ECC's Graham Cooper visited Portugal on 8-13 June to umpire in a triangular tournament between Portugal, Switzerland and Sweden in Oporto. Unfortunately, due to visa problems, the Swedes cried off less than 48 hours before the tournament was due to begin. However, the other sides duly played a 3-match series, which Portugal won 3-0 to get valuable practice in preparation for the European Championships in July. Results: (50 overs) Switzerland 174 Portugal 175-5

(50 overs) Switzerland 155 Portugal 157-3

(45 overs) Portugal 148-9 Switzerland 144 ECB Staff Coach Richard Holdsworth, who is also Cricket Development Manager at Gloucestershire CCC, spent two days with the Portuguese squad to help them prepare for the European Championships. The players have been working on a number of areas helping develop their skills in 50 over One Day cricket. The preparations continue in July with five days training at Bradfield College in Berkshire.

New Zealand A win twice against Holland

New Zealand A defeated Holland by 108 runs in a one day match at Amstelveen on June 7th. New Zealand made 216 in their 50 overs, Tim de Leede taking 4 for 46, but Holland could make only 108 in 41.1 overs in reply. The following day the New Zealanders made 233 for 5 and, in reply, Holland were dismissed in 44.2 overs for 121.

Tim Boon at First Kwik Cricket Festival in Madrid

ECB National Coach and England U19 Coach Tim Boon visited Madrid on 3 and 4 June for a Kwik Cricket festival organised by Keith Shingler, Spain's Development Officer, at the British Council School. Twelve teams of youngsters between the ages of 10 and 14 competed for prizes donated by the Copeland Group, plus medals and certificates. All enjoyed the festival and visit to Madrid (particularly the trip to Athletico Madrid's stadium and trophy room!). Twice the number of teams are expected to participate in next year's festival, and John Adler, the event host at the British Council School, has like-minded people waiting to expand cricket in Madrid. ECB Staff Coach Peter Birtwisle will help the Spanish coaches through their ECB Level I award to sustain growth in Spain. There are also plans to enter Spanish Under 15 and Under 19 teams for ECC competitions.

News from Estonia

Last season saw an inaugural Tallinn Cup in cricket held in late June with the participation of sides from Helsinki and Riga. The event was sponsored by Deloitte & Touche and Saku Breweries. August also saw the visit of European Cricket Council development officer Nigel Laughton, who assured the support of international cricket circles to the development here and inspected the new Tallinna Hippodroom ground. As a final dot to the first season, another international fixture was played with EKK hosting the Stockholm University in late September, when the Trans-Baltic Trophy was contested in Hippodroomi. Season 2000 will hopefully be even more entertaining with 5 international fixtures. EKK has now also 4 certified cricket umpires, who attended a course organized by MCC in Helsinki this April. June 17-18: Estonia v Finland in Tallinn

July 8-9: Tallinn Cup in Tallinn

July 29: Helsinki Sixes in Helsinki

August 5-6: Finland v Estonia in Helsinki

August 19-20: Half Moon CC in Tallinn

August 26-27: British and Commonwealth Association CC in Tallinn

Zimbabwe win twice in Ireland

Zimbabwe won both of their one day international contests against Ireland in Dublin on June 7th and 8th. The Irish side was strengthened by the inclusion of Australian Test star Mark Waugh, who is spending three weeks working for the Irish Cricket Union. In the first game Zimbabwe won by 47 runs with the help of half-centuries from Alistair Campbell and Grant Flower. In the second match Ireland made just 121 but then reduced Zimbabwe to 30 for 4 before Dirk Viljoen and Heath Streak saw the tourists home by 5 wickets.