ON MONDAY, I spent an idyllic day at Dean Park watching Dorset play cricket against Oxfordshire. I was saddened by the thought that there will be no more county cricket there after the Cornwall match in August. Where will Dorset be playing next year - Sherborne, Dorchester, Chapel Gate? I have no idea - and can I really be bothered to drive 25 plus miles to watch them play? Did I really see Hutton, Trueman, Laker, Greenidge et al at Dean Park, all those years ago - or was it merely a figment of my imagination?

As I gaze out of my bedroom window and watch 30 new houses going up on Broadway Park, which used to be Bournemouth Electric's (and, latterly, Winton's) home cricket ground, and hear that Meyrick Park is no longer used for cricket, and teams keep dropping out of the Dorset League, I just wonder - is this the 'death knell' sounding for our great game? I sincerely hope not.

PHILIP BRIGHTWELL, Larksfield Avenue, Bournemouth