A former White Rose batsman will be trying to put the skids under Yorkshire when they begin their defence of the Cheltenham and Gloucester Trophy with a third round match against Cambridgeshire at March on Wednesday.

Simon Kellett has racked up the runs for the Minor Counties' outfit since his Yorkshire career ended in 1995 and the Dunnington ace batsman would love to show that he has lost none of his run-scoring skills.

Kellett, now 35, was once described by former Bradford League president, Bruce Moss, as the best batsman ever to come out of the league, and few who saw the stylish right-hander on top of his form could argue with that claim.

No Yorkshire-born player ever looked prouder than Kellett when he received his county cap at Scarborough in 1991 during a county career which spanned from 1989-95 and would definitely have been much longer but for a run of appalling luck with injuries.

These all occurred after he had become a permanent fixture in the side and his enforced absences meant that young guns like Michael Vaughan, Anthony McGrath and Paul Grayson were always pushing for his place.

Kellett played in 86 first class matches for Yorkshire and in 147 innings he scored 4,204 runs with two centuries at a respectable average of 30.60, but the knock which sticks in my mind as one of his best was the unbeaten 118 he made against Derbyshire in a John Player League game at Headingley in 1992.

He also plundered 107 on the same ground against Ireland in 1995 in the NatWest Trophy when Craig White was another centurion, the pair dashing up 207 together for the fourth wicket which remains a Yorkshire record in the competition.

Since his Yorkshire career ended, Kellett has had a long working association with the Costcutter supermarket chain whose chairman and managing director, of course, is Yorkshire's chief executive and saviour, Colin Graves.

A shrewd judge of cricketing ability, Graves signed up Kellett as player and coach at his own club, Dunnington, in the York Senior League where he continues to give excellent service.

Kellett remains one of the best batsmen in Minor Counties cricket and his 516 runs in six matches last season helped Cambridgeshire finish third in the Eastern Division of the Championship.

Cambridgeshire should also have ex-Essex batsman and occasional wicketkeeper Robert Rollins in their team but it will be Darren Gough and Michael Vaughan that the locals will be paying their money to see, provided both of them play.

The smart money is on Vaughan making his way to March on Tuesday afternoon after attending a lunchtime media conference at Lord's where he will be unveiled as England's new one-day captain.

Somerset's Marcus Trescothick and Surrey's Adam Hollioake are still officially in the frame for the job but the odds favour Vaughan being the man who will reconstruct England for their next tilt at the World Cup.

Updated: 10:34 Saturday, May 03, 2003