England star Lewis to lead Gladiators

JON LEWIS, one of the England stars in the recent tied one-day international series with Pakistan, will lead out Gloucestershire Gladiators at the Barclays Twenty20+ event. The annual Lord's Taverners fund-raiser takes place at the KGV on Saturday 30 September as defending champions Gloucestershire face challengers Glamorgan Dragons.

Gladiators captain Lewis will also be taking part in the preceding Barclays Six-a-Side corporate competition two days before the county clash.

The draw, made by Mark Leaman of the sponsors and Mike O'Hara and Paul Lawrence of the Lord's Taverners, paired the England swing bowler with Cable & Wireless.

Lewis made his international debut for England playing in the Twenty20 victory over Australia at the Rose Bowl last summer before going on to play a part in the NatWest Series against Bangladesh and Australia.

During the past couple of weeks, he has been hugely impressive when opening the bowling against Pakistan.

He made his Gloucestershire debut in 1995 and has been a prolific wicket taker ever since. He took over from Mark Alleyne as captain at the end of last season.

Lewis will be joined at the six-a-side competition by teammate Matt Windows who has been drawn to play for Savills Private Finance Ltd.

Windows, once an England A tourist in 1998, has been enjoying a benefit year with Gloucestershire after 14 years' service.

Ozannes will have Glamorgan's leading run-scorer, player of the year and new captain David Hemp on their side. The elegant left-hander, who is in his second spell with the Welsh county after a stint with Warwickshire, is another who has toured with England A in the past.

Carey Olsen will have the benefit of youth on their side with Glamorgan's 22-year-old Richard Grant, who is highly regarded as a death bowler and returned the county's best figures in the 2005 Twenty20 competition.

Cenkos have been allocated Gloucestershire wicketkeeper-batsman Steve Adshead, James Averis will be playing for the Guernsey Cricket Development Squad, Ian Fisher for Barclays and Glamorgan's Ryan Watkins for PricewaterhouseCoopers.

The Barclays Six-a-Side starts at 9.15am at Port Soif on Thursday 28 September.