London: One of England's leading sporting universities was granted first-class status on Thursday for the 2003 cricket season by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB). Loughborough University, in Central England, has long been a powerhouse in all areas of British student sport. It now becomes the fourth university centre of cricket excellence after Oxford, Cambridge and Durham to be granted first-class status. Loughborough has produced a number of professional players over the years, most recently Monty Panesar (Northamptonshire), Steve Selwood (Durham) and Rob White (Northamptonshire). Coached by former England fast bowler Graham Dilley, Loughborough has won all three of the major British university cricket competitions for the past two seasons. However, its promotion to first-class status will not be welcomed by longstanding critics of the ECB, who argue that having more matches between the counties and student sides is not the way to improve standards in English cricket.

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