A CRICKETING couple from Bury are heading to Australia hoping to lead England to a remarkable double triumph at the Indoor Cricket World Cup. Barry and Alison McCormick, who manage the England U19 boys and England ladies teams respectively, are aiming to

A CRICKETING couple from Bury are heading to Australia hoping to lead England to a remarkable double triumph at the Indoor Cricket World Cup.

Barry and Alison McCormick, who manage the England U19 boys' and England ladies teams respectively, are aiming to emulate the senior England team's summer Ashes success by putting another one over their fierce rivals.

"We got to the semi-finals of the last World Cup, in Bristol in 2007, and the boys are hopeful that we can do it again," said Barry.

"We know it's going to be a huge task, but we would love to go one stage better and make it through to the final.

"This is my third and final crack at the World Cup with the boys, and I intend to win something."

Since the 2007 tournament, Barry has seen several of his squad graduate to the full men's team, and he is confident he has assembled a squad capable of going further this time round.

Despite the daunting task of facing defending champions Australia in the opening game on October 11, Barry is hoping to use the occasion to his team's benefit.

"It doesn't really get much bigger than that, but we're hoping that we can catch them cold.

"We know that they will have watched us in warm-up games, so they will be prepared, but they will have the nerves of playing in front of their home crowd," he said.

"After all, it's just eight players against eight."

Barry's wife Alison also has her eyes on silverware as she guides the England Ladies through the tournament, having been in charge of the U19 girls at the last tournament.

The ladies get their campaign underway with a clash against Wales, featuring Ramsey's Gemma Mumby.

"We are good neighbours and friends now, but that will all change when we meet in Brisbane. Then it will be down to business," said Alison.

The tournament has extra pressure riding on it as the sport of indoor cricket only became formally affiliated to the ECB this year, under the leadership of Mike Gatting. A full decision on the future of the sport will be made based on

Barry added: "If we can perform well in Australia and at the Masters Cup next year, then we will stand a better chance of securing funding in the future.

"Each of our players has had to raise over �2000 for this trip, so ECB funding would be a huge boost to our sport. But for that we need to deliver.