JOE Scuderi is relishing the prospect of county Cricket next year - but his long-term goal is to help establish Italy as a world cricketing force.

The 30-year-old Colne pro was delighted to hear yesterday that Lancashire were going ahead with their attempts to sign him on a two-year contract - and had thrown down a challenge to Lord's.

"I want to be heavily involved in the Italy cricketing set-up, so to have the opportunity to play first class cricket with Lancashire would be great," he said.

"I just hope that the people at Lord's don't try and stop me. The laws of the English Cricket Board say that you've got to be born within the European Union to be exempt from being an overseas player, but that's completely the opposite of EU law which is the law of the land." Scuderi was born in the remote Queensland sugar-growing town of Ingham and grew up in Adelaide, but as his name suggests, his family have strong Italian links.

"My grandparents went to Australia from Sicily some time around the 1930s," he explained.

"I've had an Italian passport since 1995 and last year I played for Italy in the European Championships.

"The standard of domestic cricket in Italy is very basic, but the national team has progressed reasonably steadily over the last year or so.

"We've got a couple of Sri Lankans and Pakistanis who have been living in Italy for six or seven years so they are eligible to play." And Scuderi, who went close to selection for Australia's World Cup squad in 1992, stressed that he is not just using his Italian qualifications to get a break in county cricket.

"I'm going to be living over here and although at the moment I'm just a player for Italy, maybe in four years time I could be coaching the team," he added. "It's a long-term thing for me."

So now he is looking forward to linking up with Lancashire next year, when if things go well for Andy Flintoff in South Africa this winter he could have a crucial role as an all-rounder.

"I know quite a few of the guys like Glen Chapple, and also Warren Hegg and Mike Atherton who I played against in an under-19 series a few years back," he added. After six years with Nelson, two with Colne and even a summer with Preston as an 18-year-old in 1987, he is ready for this new challenge.

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