The EDO visited Spain to view the proposed facilities for the European Academy and to watch Spanish teachers taking part in the first teachers' training course for cricket. More Speaking at the official launch of the ICC Under 19 World Cup in Auckland, New Zealand, ICC President Malcolm Gray said: "Bringing together the most talented and gifted cricketers for this Under 19 World Cup is tremendously exciting, and something the ICC is very proud to be associated with. More… Members of Ljubljana CC ran an introductory coaching session in Skofja Loka on Saturday 20 October. The session was advertised locally via posters and word-of-mouth, and a small but enthusiastic group turned up. More The winners of the Greek Kwik Cricket Schools Tournament, which took place in Thessaloniki last May, visited Corfu to play against the Corfiot winners on Saturday 13 October. More The Austrian Cricket Association has been going to great lengths to produce home-grown cricketers rather than relying on ex-patriots and their dependents. It is a policy that is paying off, as some half dozen members of the current national squad, all Austrian nationals, were introduced to the game while still at school. More In the penultimate match of their season, the Oporto Cricket and Lawn Tennis Club were hosts to an England XI, brought to Oporto by Essex wine merchants Lay and Wheeler. A similar visit took place during Graham Gooch's benefit year in 1995, but this time round the trip was for Peter Such and John Stephenson, whose team included nine ex-England players. More The ICC has appointed Bob Woolmer, former Test cricketer with England, highly successful coach to Warwickshire County Cricket Club and coach of the South African national side from 1994 to 1999, to the new position of ICC High Performance Manager, responsible for working with member countries Canada, Holland, Kenya and Namibia to help them prepare for the challenge of competing in the 2003 World Cup in South Africa. More Been back from Canada about 3 weeks now, and the planning for the tournament in Berlin is running at full steam ahead. More The EDM made his first visit to the completed Hampshire Rose Bowl, home to Hampshire CCC, to see Ireland play a Hampshire Board XI in their 19th international fixture this year. This fixture, the second round of the 2002 Cheltenham and Gloucester domestic competition, provided outgoing national coach Ken Rutherford with an opportunity to introduce new talent in the form of a number of U19 and U23 players who had not travelled to Toronto for the ICC Trophy. More Portugal registered an impressive nine-wicket victory over hosts, Austria, to win the biennial ECC Trophy, the European Cricket Council's tournament for ICC Affiliate members, at the Seebarn No. 1 ground just outside Vienna on Saturday. More * The Board of Red Star Belgrade in Yugoslavia is considering a proposal to start a cricket club. * Latvia are hoping to run an indoor tournament in the near future, and have invited a number of neighbouring countries, including Estonia, Ukraine, Belarus, Russia and Poland, to participate. * Nikolay Kolev at the National Sports Academy in Bulgaria has had talks with officials from the Agency of Youth and Sports, who have offered their complete support in developing cricket in their country. Nikolay hopes to have several clubs, and possibly an Association, up and running by Christmas.