PAUL SMITH, Shropshire's new professional for the 1997 Minor Counties season, has been suspended by the club pending an official investigation by the disciplinary committee of the England and Wales Cricket Board.

Smith, 33, took centre stage in a two-page report in a tabloid Sunday newspaper last weekend detailing a lurid secret life of drugs, drink and sex during his 15 years as a professional with Warwickshire.

He confessed to having experimented with hard drugs - even hiding them on his person while playing - and said he once shared a cocaine session with Diego Maradona in a Buenos Aires nightclub.

He also claimed to having bedded 800 women during his career in first-class cricket, and boasted of orgies involving other sportsmen and personalities.

Dennis Amiss, the Warwickshire chief executive, said he was ``surprised and saddened'' by the revelations while the Shropshire committee met to discuss the article on Wednesday evening. They issued a press release yesterday saying they felt it had ``brought the game of cricket into disrepute''.

Therefore they have imposed an immediate suspension on Smith and referred the matter to the ECB.

Smith made his Minor Counties debut for Shropshire in last Sunday's MCC Trophy win over Berkshire at Finchampstead, taking two for 41 off eight overs and then scoring 14.

Sussex have confirmed they will be staging their Sunday League match against Surrey under floodlights at Hove on Wednesday, Aug 27.

Chief executive Tony Pigott says that Sussex have received permission from the English Cricket Board to switch the game from Aug 31 and it will start at 5pm. Sussex's championship match against Surrey at Hove, scheduled to begin on Aug 27, has been brought forward a day.

Pigott says that sponsorship will be in place to offset the £30,000 cost of temporary floodlights. He believes there will be ``proper day-night conditions'' by the end of August, and the lights will have a more powerful effect at that time of year.