MICHAEL DIGHTON is preparing for Groundhog weekend by playing his final game for Hampshire - before flying north to play for Greenock in the Scottish Cup.
Australian batsman Dighton will play for Hampshire against holders Gloucestershire at Bristol in the C&G Trophy on Saturday six days after scoring 74 on debut against the same opponents on the same ground in the totesport National League.
Dighton made his Hampshire debut 24 hours after scoring his first hundred of the season for Greenock against Scottish champions Grange.
Then he woke up at 4.30am on Sunday morning to fly from Glasgow to Heathrow, where he was met by Hampshire director of cricket Tim Tremlett and driven to Bristol.
And this weekend he will do the return leg in time to play for Greenock against Stenhousemuir in the Scottish Cup - providing Hampshire's C& G Trophy last 16 clash does not go into a reserve day.
Tasmania star Dighton, 28: "It's going to be another hectic weekend as Greenock's game starts at 1pm on Sunday but I'm focused on doing well for Hampshire and we should have an excellent psychological advantage on Saturday after Sunday's win. Hopefully we can repeat it."
Dighton is set to be joined in the Hampshire side by John Crawley, Dimitri Mascarenhas AND Chris Tremlett against C&G Trophy holders Gloucestershire as all three are expected to be fit after missing Sunday's four-wicket win through injury.
Crawley is set to play his first game in a month tomorrow, for the second XI in a three day championship match against Sussex at Hove, and will be in contention for his first one day game of the season if he suffers no reaction to the knee injury he sustained nearly six weeks ago.
Dighton, meanwhile, is still on a high after last weekend.
He added: "Everything happened so quickly that I hardly had time to meet my teammates! I played with Alan Mullally in Perth and had met Shane Warne a few times but had to pinch myself a little bit when I got to bat with him. Sharing a 66-run partnership with him was awesome.
"It was a great win, especially as Gloucestershire have a reputation for being such an accomplished one-day side."
Michael Clarke returns from one-day duty with Australia in Zimbabwe on Saturday to replace Dighton in time to play in the totesport National League match against Kent at The Rose Bowl on Bank Holiday Monday.
Hampshire's second XI yesterday lost their first Trophy match since September 2002 in their first game since winning the one-day competition last year.
Glamorgan won by five wickets with 16 balls to spare of the 50 overs a side contest despite half centuries from Lawrence Prittipaul (89), Greg Lamb (65) and James Hamblin (50). But Adrian Shaw struck an unbeaten 77 on the Rose Bowl's Nursery Ground to lead the Welsh county home.
Former Hampshire bowler Ed Giddins was yesterday found guilty of placing a bet of approximately £7,000 on Northamptonshire to beat Surrey in the Norwich Union National League in 2002.
Giddins did not play in the match, which Northants won by 102 runs, but was a Surrey player at the time and has been suspended from all cricket for five years.
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