Cricket: New challenge for Anneka

A LIGHT-HEARTED campaign to get women interested in "Carnival Cricket" was launched at Lord's yesterday, with Anneka Rice as its figurehead. Rice is not a cricket fan but hopes by the start of the World Cup on 14 May that she, along with any uncommitted female observer, will know "a full toss from a googly".

A magazine called Bodyline will be available as part of the provocative advertising for the tournament. The front cover displays a well-muscled cricketer - with torso bare and head not showing, shining an orange on his whites.

Rice said: "It's a really interesting brief to try and put over the appeal of the World Cup to women. It's quite a dodgy sport. It does drag on and then it's tea. It's difficult to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

"But one-day cricket is a master stroke. When it is all over you have time for a gin and tonic and Blind Date."