CRICKET: Last week's column calling for an overhaul of the junior leagues in Leinster generated quite a response - some agreed with me but many others were trenchant in their opposition.

Most people, it would seem, accept the game at the lower levels needs to be quickened up if we are to attract new players and retain those who might be lured away by the vast array of other summer sports now available, from tag rugby to body boarding. Most respondents agreed that the number of overs should be reduced.

My suggestion that all cricket below senior level should be played on artificial wickets did not get blanket support, however, with several people rejecting my assertion that it would force a better line and length from bowlers while rewarding batsmen who play authentic cricket shots.

Niall Tempany from Merrion CC had this to say: "I can not agree with your point regarding artificial wickets. Mats do nothing for a bowler and create lazy batsmen. A bowler has to bowl a line on any wicket but when you are batting on a mat with standard bounce, you can just play straight through the line of the ball almost regardless of length.

"The art of batting and bowling is not fostered by mat cricket. A bowler can bowl a perfect off-stump line and will still get thrashed because the batsman knows the ball ain't moving and the bounce ain't variable. While dodgy tracks do nothing for the game, they exist at every level in Leinster and unless something radically changes in terms of resources, they always will. Batsmen will have to bat on them if they progress up the ranks and the more played on grass the better."

Tempany received support from Barry Collins of Old Belvedere CC, who said his club did not have the cash to build an artificial pitch and, in any event, he did not approve of too much cricket being played away from traditional grass.

Collins also found space to give free rein to his own hobby horse about Leinster cricket - the fact that the Senior 2 Cup involves playing 60 overs per side with two breaks in play during the day. "It is a nonsense that there is any 60 overs cricket being played here as I don't think that this format is played anywhere else in the world.

"This season, we (Belvedere) won our first-round match and myself and a number of other elderly players were looking to be carried off the field on stretchers. This gave us a home match against Laois in the next round, who had to leave Portlaoise at 8.30 a.m. to be ready for the 11 a.m. start. It also meant we had to provide lunch as well as tea at an extra cost of roughly 300.

"Thankfully, we lost that game, which spared us another home tie."

A reader from a non-Dublin club in the Leinster leagues, who did not want to be identified, made a valid point against my proposal of starting all games at 11 a.m. "We would have to leave home before 9 a.m. in order to get to any Dublin ground in reasonable time and for those of us who enjoy a drink on a Friday night, that is not the easiest thing in the world to do."

Thanks to everyone who contributed to the debate and sorry I cannot include all comments. Above all, I think that most players in the junior leagues accept that changes are necessary to keep the grass-roots of the game alive in Leinster.

It will be interesting to see how long it takes the junior branch of the LCU to be swayed by these winds of change.

Robert Key hit an unbeaten 93 to take England to a seven-wicket win over West Indies on day five of the third Test yesterday, securing a 3-0 series lead with one Test to play.

Key steadied England after a poor start chasing 231 to win on a misbehaving Old Trafford pitch to hand the hosts a ninth Test win in 10 matches.

"We knew that one player had to get in and see us home and Robert Key has done that fantastically," England captain Michael Vaughan said.

Andrew Flintoff played some risky pull shots but added a crucial 57 not out, including two sixes and the winning run on his home ground.

He came in at number five ahead of Graham Thorpe, who broke a finger and is in doubt for the next Test but was named man-of-the-match for his battling 114 in England's first innings.