LANCASHIRE have the chance to secure a top four finish in the PPP County Championship at Old Trafford over the next four days.

They currently stand fourth and face Kent, who slipped to fifth with their defeat by Yorkshire at Scarborough last week.

The fact that Lancashire are even in with a sniff of the top four is a tribute to their superb recovery in the second half of the season, with six wins in their last seven games.

And if they could beat Kent and then Somerset at Taunton in their last game next week, John Crawley's team could even repeat last year's second placed finish.

At the start of play today, they were only three points behind Leicestershire, who are currently second. But at the other end of the scale, Lancashire are only 17 points clear of 10th placed Sussex, so they still need a few points to be sure of their place in the top division next season. The tight competition has justified skipper Crawley's support for the two division system to be introduced in the Championship, with every county except Surrey at the top and Nottinghamshire and Gloucestershire at the bottom having everything to play for in their last two matches.

Lancashire were hoping to name the same team which beat Durham at Old Trafford last week, until Mike Atherton failed a late fitness test on the foot injury he picked up in the CGU National League victory over Hampshire on Monday night.

That meant no place again for Ian Austin, who is protecting his injured knee for the remaining two games in the National League title race, or Mike Watkinson who is also increasingly seen as a one-day specialist and is still in negotiation with the club about a new contract for next season.

So Lancashirte went into the game with three spinner, Gary Yates, Chris Schofield and Gary Keedy. Kent won the toss today and elected to bat.

Glen Chapple took two quick wickets to give Lancashire a dream start as Kent struggled to 31-2.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.