The 26-year-old Texan's 7-6 6-4 victory over the 10th-seeded Dutchman followed victories over the

The 26-year-old Texan's 7-6, 6-4 victory over the 10th-seeded Dutchman followed victories over the top seed, Yevgeny Kafelnikov, in the quarter- finals and the No 14 seed, Mark Philippoussis, in the semis. The world No 1, Pete Sampras, won his first title since the Japan Open four months ago, edging out the second seeded Goran Ivanisevic 7-6, 7- 5 in the RCA Championships in Indianapolis.The Olympic champion, Lindsay Davenport, continued her excellent summer when she enjoyed a straight-sets win in the Acura Classic in Manhattan Beach, California, over the second seed, Anke Huber.. Once Mike Gatting was out first ball, wickets fell steadily as Middlesex tried to keep up with the run rate. They eventually reached 242 for 9 with James Hewitt and Phil Tufnell the not-out batsmen.. Alex O'Brien, a wild-card entry ranked No 169 in the world, became the lowest-ranked player to win a title this year when he beat Jan Siemerink to secure the Pilot Pen International in New Haven, Connecticut. Hampshire never threatened to reach their victory target of 415 after resuming on 21 for one, but comfortably reached safety at 304 for 6 before Mike Watkinson, the Lancashire captain, called a halt with three overs remaining. Middlesex had to fight for a draw against Worcestershire after pushing for victory for much of the day at Lord's.Needing 251 to win off 49 overs, Middlesex got off to a flying start. The 25-year-old, who toured Pakistan with England A last winter, tested positive for an illegal substance after a championship match against Kent at Tunbridge Wells in May A second test produced the same result..

Robin Smith and Will Kendall hit half-centuries to secure a hard- earned draw for Hampshire against Lancashire at Old Trafford. The emphasis is on developing better quality young cricketers, particularly 11-16-year-olds."All 38 County Boards have received grants, six amounting to six figures, plus pounds 135,000 to Durham University in three annual awards of pounds 45,000.n The Test and County Cricket Board's disciplinary hearing into the positive drug test by the Sussex bowler Ed Giddins was suspended after four and a half hours at Lord's yesterday, and will resume today. Every county in the country - 38 County Boards - will benefit from this investment. "It is an important first brick in the structure of the English Cricket Board which will be up and running on 1 October," said Ossie Wheatley, the chairman of the Cricket Foundation. A major objective of Wheatley's is for the 17-year-old finished products to emerge from the centres as good as those who graduate from the highly- successful Australian Academy.A cash injection of pounds 2.2m from the Test and County Cricket Board plus a guarantee of pounds 1.9m over the next three years has handsomely backed a development project which will cost pounds 2.38m overall.The first centre of excellence for young hopefuls in the Under-12 to Under-17 age group is to be set up at Durham University, which has produced 30 county players.Wheatley added: "The long-promised restructuring of cricket in England and Wales is underway. A scheme designed to produce quality Test players for coming years was unveiled at Lord's by the Cricket Foundation, and its ideal is to set up 38 centres of excellence, one for each of the new County Boards.

But it was Britain's runner-up in the 200m who stole the show, far from retiring though he was.. England's international future yesterday received a pounds 2.38m boost. Francis Agyepong, with 16.62, was runner-up to Edwards, whose 17.38 secured his 26th win in 27 competitions. Harrison's United States team-mates and fellow Olympic champions, high jumper Charles Austin (with 2.30m) and high hurdler Allen Johnson (13.25), successfully upheld their recently- acquired reputations.Britain's impressive winners in a Bupa Challenge meeting contrived as a match between the hosts and an international select, who won 121-113, included Roger Black in the 400m (44.64) and Paula Radcliffe in the 3,000m (8min 56.25sec). It was there, too, that he enjoyed his biggest pay-day: pounds 100,000 for the 10.08sec it took him to beat Carl Lewis in 1993.That track record survived the attentions of the man who has followed Wells, Lewis and Christie as Olympic 100m champion. After warming up in a Newcastle United strip, which displayed his world record figures on the back (9.84), Bailey eased to victory in what by his standards was a modest 10.19.While the Canadian conducted trackside interviews with Les Ferdinand and Peter Beardsley, another of the four Atlanta gold medallists to grace the meeting was finding life less comfortable as, for the second time since he was obliged to settle for a silver lining in Atlanta, Jonathan Edwards beat Kenny Harrison.The American's best triple jump, 16.60m, was only enough for third place.