FORMER Test star Bill Athey will be looking for runs when he makes his first appearance in Ipswich tomorrow. Athey lines up in the Suffolk side when they begin their three-day Minor Counties Championship game against Northumberland at Ransomes.

By ELVIN KING

elvin.king@ecng.co.uk

FORMER Test star Bill Athey will be looking for runs when he makes his first appearance in Ipswich tomorrow.

Athey lines up in the Suffolk side when they begin their three-day Minor Counties Championship game against Northumberland at Ransomes.

The 42-year-old ex-Yorkshire and Gloucestershire batsman admits that his debut season with Suffolk has so far been disappointing.

And he will be trying to put that right as Suffolk seek their first championship win in their penultimate match.

"The team has not played well, and I have not played well," said Herefordshire-based Athey, who is

playing for his club side Paignton today before driving 300 miles to Ipswich tonight.

"The travelling does not help but I would naturally have liked to have done much better. There are a lot of good players in the Minor Counties and this season has been interesting."

Athey, who replaced another ex-Test player Derek Randall in the Suffolk side, has become a big hit and popular

member of the Suffolk camp. He began with a big score in the one-day win at Lincolnshire, helping Suffolk reach the third round of the Cheltenham and Gloucester Trophy.

But since then his luck has been out and he played on in the second innings of the two-wicket defeat against Cambridgeshire at Mildenhall on Tuesday.

"With a slice of luck we could have won two of the games we lost, although we have not really done ourselves justice yet," added Athey.

Suffolk make one change for tomorrow's match with all-rounder Ian Graham playing for an English Cricket Board XI against West Indies Under-19s at Hastings tomorrow.