RONNIE IRANI led his Essex team to Old Trafford today aiming for revenge.

Irani's previous return to his home county as Essex skipper two years ago ended in a heavy defeat with Muttiah Muralitharan taking 13 wickets on his first Championship appearance in Manchester.

Essex struck unlucky again this year, with Murali making his second and last Old Trafford appearance of the summer -- although he is also available for the trips to Surrey and Kent before he heads home on international duty next month.

But Irani and his team arrived in good form after outplaying Surrey in Ilford last week.

They were heading for a comfortable win only to be denied by the rain on Saturday, with Irani scoring a century and taking five wickets in the first innings -- the first all-rounder to do that in a Championship match since Wasim Akram for Lancashire.

Essex were again missing England captain Nasser Hussain, who is hoping to make his comeback from a broken finger in Saturday's floodlit National League game at Old Trafford.

Lancashire named the same 11 who beat Leicestershire in their last Championship match, with Mike Atherton making his last appearance before he links up with Hussain and the rest of the England squad for the Ashes series.

They slipped from third to fifth in the First Division table with a week out of action, although Glen Chapple rose to the top of the first class bowling averages without bowling a ball -- with Peter Martin not far behind, and Neil Fairbrother fourth in the batting lists.

Essex started the game third from bottom, and in the relegation zone.

Meanwhile, players, management and officials were all busy learning their emergency procedures in case more trouble flares in the NatWest Series at Trent Bridge today.

Sunday's crowd invasion, the match concession by England and serious injury to a Headingley steward have exercised the minds of all concerned as they strive to ensure there is no repeat in the day-night match between Australia and Pakistan.

The England and Wales Cricket Board are hampered by the fact that no legislation exists to prosecute spectators for trespassing on the pitch.

But their chief executive Tim Lamb, his Nottinghamshire counterpart David Collier, the Australian Cricket Board and both teams involved - as well as all the relevant authorities - spent yesterday deciding what measures could and should be taken.

The upshot was no dogs - on police advice - to keep spectators pinned back, but instead temporary perimeter plastic fencing to be hoisted high by extra stewards at the first sign of trouble.

Collier pronounced himself convinced all relevant and possible steps had been taken among a list of other measures designed to keep the crowd happy and under control.

Australian captain Steve Waugh still clearly had qualms but nonetheless broadly acknowledged the ECB and Nottinghamshire's hard work.

The Aussies' team manager Steve Bernard also has an extra job to do today as one of a clutch of specially identified officials who can activate the erection of the fencing if they feel there is a problem.

He explained how he has been told it will work.

"If there are 15 runs to get or two wickets to fall the stewards will automatically put them (the fencing) up," said Bernard.

"But if we feel there is danger before then we will be asking for those barriers to be put up earlier than that.

"What you are trying to do is buy time with a barrier there to give the players the chance to get off."

Waugh, meanwhile, spelled out how he will react if he sees trouble ahead.

"If it gets out of control we will be off the ground until they get it right," he declared.

"It is the same as anywhere else; if you feel threatened or in danger you let the umpires know and you go off."

Waugh's optimism that more problems might be averted is tempered by unpleasant memories of Australia's last meeting with Pakistan in this tournament at Cardiff 10 days ago.

"We were at Cardiff and we saw a young English boy being belted up by a group of Pakistanis, and nobody did anything about it," revealed Waugh.

"When that sort of thing happens you think 'what is going on here?'

"Security just was not good enough."

Even so, Waugh is encouraged by the ECB's attempts in the intervening days to come to terms with a difficult situation.

He said: "They have gone to a lot of trouble and they have employed a lot of people - so we must hope it works.

"At the moment you are trusting people to do the right thing."

Lamb, meanwhile, believes that the introduction of harsher penalties for those spilling onto the pitch is long overdue.

He said: "Back at the World Cup in 1999 we explored the idea, with the Home Office, of making it an offence to trespass onto a cricket ground - in the end it was felt that it was not appropriate at that time.

"Now we feel that the only way of dealing with this problem will be to invoke legislation.

"What we have got to look at, in conjunction with the government, is legislation that any individual, either singularly or as a group, faces a financial penalty for encroaching onto the field of play."

Lancs: Atherton, Chilton, Crawley, Fairbrother, Flintoff, Scuderi, Hegg, Chapple, Martin, Keedy, Muralitharan.