ECC would like to congratulate Holland on their Natwest Trophy win over Durham. This leads the team into the next round and hopefully to another victory. During the 1999 World Cup the ECC supported all games played in ECC Member Countries. These included the games in Edinburgh, Dublin and Amsterdam. All of which received positive reports, particularly with respect to the fantastic hospitality offered by the hosts. ECC also sent journalists from European Print Media agencies, in order to increase awareness of the game through reports in European newspapers. This initiative has seen World Cup feature articles in the following publications: Le Monde (France), The International Herald Tribune (International), L'Equipe Magazine (France), L'Equipe Newspaper (France), La Derniere Heure Les Sports (Belgium). Other articles have been published in Germany, Holland and Italy. The ICC accepted Germany into the Associate Member ranks after their recent inspection. ECC would like to congratulate them on their new-found cricketing status. Cyprus were also recently admitted into the ICC Membership realms, as Affiliate Members, as such they are also now members of the ECC. Congratulations! The ECC World Cup brochure, produced to coincide with the Opening Match, was given or sent to all the cricketing press and journalists in UK and Holland and over 7,000 members of the general cricketing public. The cost/benefit analysis for these brochures may never be proven, however, a good number of cricket followers are now aware of ECC's existence and this will help to raise the profile, not only of the work being undertaken, but also the magnificence of some of the European grounds featured. These brochures can be obtained by contacting the Europe Office. The first ever World Coaching Conference, Cricket Live '99, organised by the ECB in conjunction with the world's best coaches, cricket experts and manufacturers, took place at the NEC Birmingham from 01-02 June 1999. ECC saw this conference as an opportunity to invite European coaches, all of whom attended ECC coaching courses in 1998, to help develop their coaching skills and understanding of cricket through demonstrations, films and seminars in the main arena. In addition to offering them this unique coaching experience, the coaches were able visit numerous cricket related stalls in an adjacent exhibition hall and attend workshops led by experts in a plethora of cricketing fields from captaincy and man-management to cricket for the disabled. Based on the advice of ECC Coaches, invitations were sent to delegate coaches from Austria, Cyprus, Denmark, France, Gibraltar, Holland, Italy, Romania, Slovenia and Spain.