Cricket: Double date for counties

SO IT is possible to be in two places at once after all. A look at today's NatWest Trophy third round fixtures is enough to confirm it. That tells you that Kent are up at Bowdon playing Cheshire, while at Canterbury they are entertaining Hampshire, who are in their turn taking on Glamorgan at Southampton. Durham may find themselves a little stretched, what with worrying about Gloucestershire up at Chester-le-Street and having to be in Amstelveen to tackle the Netherlands.

It may all seem very confusing, but there is a perfectly logical explanation. It is the new-look NatWest Trophy, this season a 50-over affair instead of the 60 it had been for a long time. In an effort to give domestic cricket's premier one-day competition a feel of the FA Cup, the number of participants has been increased to include the so-called County Board Recreation teams. Hence two Kents, a couple of Hampshires and a Durham double.

Another innovation this year guaranteed the Minor Counties sides and Recreational XIs a home tie in the third round when the first-class counties enter the competition.

There is a real buzz around Canterbury where the Kent Recreational XI regard the visit of Robin Smith and his team as the pinnacle for the club players in their side. Hampshire should be warned: Matthew Featherstone, the Kent batsman, already has a century to his name in the competition. He smashed an unbeaten 104 against Denmark in the first round and followed that up with 64 against Worcestershire Recreational XI in the second round.

The Hampshire Recreational XI also contains a first-round centurion for Glamorgan to worry about in the 20-year-old Matthew Compton. He scored 105 not out in the win against Suffolk and then the Isle of Wight youngster hit 59 against Shropshire, whom they beat by one run thanks to a last- ball run-out at Wellington. The Recreational side is captained by Raj Maru, the former Hampshire slow left-arm spinner, who is using the competition to assess up and coming youngsters.

Surrey travel to Scotland with their Pakistan off-spinner, Saqlain Mushtaq, fresh from the disappointment of the World Cup final defeat at the weekend. The Surrey side bristles with the usual suspects - Alec Stewart, Graham Thorpe, Mark Butcher, the Hollioake brothers Adam and Ben and the big- hitting Alistair Brown - and also includes Carl Greenidge, son of Gordon, the former West Indian opener who was yesterday appointed batting coach to Nottinghamshire. Scotland have to begin their post World Cup rebuilding without Yorkshire's Gavin Hamilton - the county want the all-rounder for their Trophy campaign.

Worcestershire, who travel to Devon, have given all-rounder Tom Moody an extra week off after helping Australia to win the World Cup.