David Berriman was elected as the new national councillor for Sussex at last week's meeting of the County Association at Patcham.

The 40-year-old, from Brighton, is one of the leading coaches in Sussex and a former regional development officer for South East England.

He needed a month to make his decision to take over from Carol Beames, who is now a member of the ETTA management committee.

Beames said: "He is one of the most experienced administrators in Sussex. I am confident he will do a good job for the county at the national council."

A new venue has been chosen for the Sussex inter-league championships on January 5 to 6. It will be held at the Six Villages Centre at Fontwell and the organiser is Ron Eglin (Chichester), who is secretary of the South West Sussex league.

An acute shortage of umpires is causing concern.

Doreen Nightingale, chair and secretary of the Sussex Umpire's committee, warned: "We have only nine Sussex umpires to cover a huge calendar of events. Our three international umpires, Derek Basaley, Colin Highland and myself are facing international and national commitments, as well as the demands on the Sussex calendar.

Sussex trio Rose Rainton, Sheila King and Sara Coggon will be competing under the Hollington club flag at Hereford this weekend in the first five matches of the British Women's League.

Champions of division one last season, Hollington's hopes of promotion have been dashed by three new teams being placed in the premier division.

Sussex are emerging as major challengers for two premier division titles in the county championships as England No.3 veteran Nigel Eckersley (Uckfield) is now available for two Sussex teams.

Eckersley, the British Veterans Grand Prix champions after playing for Cheshire for many years, has agreed to play a dual role for the Sussex first senior team and also for the veterans in the premier division. Sussex, the 1998 senior champions, only missed the title by a single point in 1999 and 2000.

This campaign will be led by Ritchie Venner, with Adrian Moore and Eckersley at No .3 and means that the Sussex seniors have an enhanced chance of regaining the trophy from Middlesex.

OVER 120 entries for the Sussex Open Grand Prix at Hastings (October 13-14) have already been received. The maximum is 160 by next week's closing date.