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Atherton back in the middle for Lancashire

Michael Atherton will take his first steps towards a comeback on Tuesday when he plays for the Lancashire second team against Yorkshire in Middlesbrough.

The former England captain, forced to pull out of the World Cup squad because of persistent back problems, has been undergoing an extensive fitness programme and reports he is feeling in good shape. If the match goes well, he hopes to make his first team return against Surrey at the Oval next week.

West Indies will delay a decision on the future of manager Clive Lloyd and stand-in coach Viv Richards until October. It was widely assumed that Lloyd would stand down or be dismissed after their World Cup exit and that Richards would carry on because of Malcolm Marshall's ill-health, but the West Indies are anxious not to rush into a change of management.

``It is more than likely that, barring any health problems, both Clive and Malcolm will be the manager and coach when we go to Sharjah in October,'' said Steve Camacho, chief executive of the West Indies Cricket Board. ``Viv was only a stand-in for Malcolm until the World Cup ended.''

David Lloyd was determined to make a quiet exit from the England coach's job. He resisted attempts by the team to stage a goodbye party on Tuesday and instead completed his term of office at Buckingham Palace on Wednesday when the World Cup teams attended a royal reception.

The last sight the England team had of their coach before he began a new life with Sky TV was of Lloyd shuffling out of the palace in search of a taxi. The players watched Lloyd go before one started singing 'Bring Me Sunshine', the Morecambe and Wise theme tune. It seemed somehow apt.

Hansie Cronje and his team were not able to vote in South Africa's elections last week. But prisoners in the country were. A new rule introduced this year denied South Africans overseas at the time of the election, won convincingly by the ANC government, from voting but those behind bars were, for the first time, included. The players were said to be disappointed but, sportsmen being sportsmen, hardly heartbroken.

Angus Fraser's far from perfect week was completed on Friday night when his car was broken into at Middlesex's hotel. ``You could say I've had a great time in Birmingham,'' said Fraser, a member of the England World Cup side who were eliminated at Edgbaston on Sunday. ``I lost some personal items, but there was one consolation - they didn't touch the case of wine in my boot!''