AS previously mentioned in this column, the University of Reading are looking to do away with their main cricket ground.

The university have now made an official planning application to the Reading Borough Council to replace it with a synthetic turf 3G pitch to be used for football, hockey, rugby and other sports.

The proposed plans also include an eight-column floodlighting system and a stand for up to 75 spectators.

So it will be in use every day of the year, offering more choice for students and the local community.

This will bring in a lot more much-needed revenue for the university than that being generated by cricketers playing weekend and midweek games between May and September.

Of course, it won't please those clubs without a home of their own who use the Whiteknights Campus, as it provides a better wicket than many of the council-owned pitches in the area, and RBC will certainly receive a number of objections. But they will no doubt argue that alternative grounds could be available.

Sadly, cricket in the Reading area is not in particularly rude health at the moment with no clubs competing in the Home Counties Premier League or the top division of the Thames Valley League.

WHILE covering a Home Counties Premier League cricket game at Wokingham, I bumped into former Reading FC player Alex Pearce, a friend of the club's player-coach Danny Housego. The 30-year-old defender was pleased to report he had just signed for Millwall, having been on loan there from Derby County last season.

WHILE Bangladesh were taking on England last Saturday in the Cricket World Cup, I was reminded of the time when they warmed up for the same competition in 1999 by coming to Berkshire to play against Finchampstead.

It was their first ever appearance in the ICC competition and on the day they were managed by West Indies legend Gordon Greenidge, who was brought up in Reading and still has close links with the town.