IANS

London, May 21: Dumping their stuffy black coats, scores of lawyers from around the Commonwealth are set to descend on English playing fields this summer to play cricket.

"It's time to shed our black attire of the courtroom for the white shirt and flannels of the cricket field," said R. Santhankrishnan, a Supreme Court advocate and President of the Indian Advocates' Cricket Association.

"Get away from it all. It's time to light up your mind."

The lawyers - and solicitors - will be turning up for the Second Lawyers' Cricket World Cup which will be held in Cambridge July 26-Aug 4. It will be opened by the Lord Chief Justice, organisers said Wednesday. India are the defending champions.

Twelve teams from Australia, England, India, Ireland, New Zealand Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka and the West Indies will take part in the tournament.

All players will pay their way.

"It's not just a jolly� Although it is a jolly, there's a serious purpose to it," said James Cartwright of the Bar of England and Wales Cricket Club.

In between games of cricket, the lawyers will be able to attend seminars on such serious subjects as the development of international criminal law and the role of the lawyer in sport.

There will be lectures by legal luminaries, including Sir Geoffrey Nice, the doyen of international criminal law who led the prosecution of the late Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic for the United Nations.

"Cricket's good for you - it makes your moral fibre stronger," said Cartwright.

An English solicitor and cricketer described the Indian team as "seriously good" but added, "I hear the Aussies have been at the nets quite a lot, so I won't take anything for granted this year."