LANCASHIRE bridled at claims that they were saved by the rain in their last Championship match against Sussex, but they held their hands up today after escaping with a draw against Surrey.

Surrey's decision not to enforce the follow-on on Sunday backfired completely as persistent rain meant that only nine overs were possible until very late on the last day.

And although Lancashire had a couple of nervous moments with Alec Swann, Mark Chilton and Neil Fairbrother all going lbw, in the end Stuart Law steered them to a comfortable draw, and four precious extra points which keep them in the top half of the First Division table.

Surrey, on the other hand, were left to reflect on the missed opportunity which cost them the leadership to Leicestershire following their victory over Yorkshire at Grace Road.

"Given the situation of the match we're happy to walk away with a draw," said Lancashire's cricket manager Mike Watkinson, and the whole team were surprised and delighted when Surrey let them off the hook by not enforcing that follow-on.

But Watkinson admitted to growing concerns about Lancashire's poor batting form in the first innings of Championship matches.

"It's something that goes back beyond this season and we can't always be relying on rearguard rescue acts," he said.

"We've had another talk about it and we'll be looking to do something different, whether that means playing with more intensity or perhaps relaxing more."

Meanwhile Lancashire could spring a big surprise in today's floodlit National League match against Gloucestershire at Old Trafford by opening with Fairbrother.

The 38-year-old has only gone in first on a handful of occasions in his long career, but Watkinson revealed that he was in line to take over from the injured David Byas as Mark Chilton's opening partner.

Lancashire are also boosted by Andy Flintoff's return from England duty to form a formidable batting line-up with Fairbrother and Law, and Chris Schofield and John Wood also come back into the regular one-day line-up.

The game starts at 4-05pm with the usual off-field attractions such as barbecues, bouncy castles and cricket coaching in the indoor school.