Sporting Digest: Cricket

Glamorgan have appointed their former player John Derrick as their first-team coach for the 1998 season in succession to Duncan Fletcher, who guided them to the County Championship last summer but is unable to return for the new season.

The England and Wales Cricket Board is seeking to obtain major sponsorship over the coming months for its new National League, scheduled to start in 1999.

A fourth-wicket partnership of 243 - a record for New Zealand against Zimbabwe - by Matthew Horne and Nathan Astle put New Zealand in command on the second day of the second Test at Eden Park, Auckland, yesterday. The home side finished on 441 for 9, a lead of 271.