LANCASHIRE captain Warren Hegg is enjoying his luckiest ever run with the coin, but he was left wishing he had lost the toss in Chelmsford yesterday.

Hegg was handed a nightmare decision when he called correctly against Essex for the sixth time in seven Championship matches - whether to risk batting first under grey skies, or last when the pitch may not be so good.

He gambled on batting first, but then saw five wickets tumble for 66. And despite a battling 80 from Stuart Law against his old county, with good support from Glen Chapple and Chris Schofield, Lancashire's total of 218 was easily their lowest of the season.

"We weren't bothered whether we won or lost the toss and it was a real close call whether to bat or bowl," admitted manager Mike Watkinson, who

thought Lancashire also suffered from the long break since their last Championship match.

Lancashire were undone by Essex's left arm seamer Scott Brant, a Zimbabwean who played with Law in Australia for Queensland last winter.

He sent back Alec Swann, Jamie Haynes and Mark Chilton in an impressive opening spell, and with Mal Loye and Carl Hooper going to loose shots at the other end, Law and Chapple were left with a rebuilding job.

They responded impressively in a sixth wicket stand of 82, with Law showing great character in a tough personal test.

The Aussie admits that he left Essex on bad terms with several players, and they were surrounding him yesterday and willing him to fail.

But he put that to the back of his mind and battled it out, spending 38 minutes and 28 balls on 23 either side of lunch before counter-attacking with a six over third man off Jon Dakin.

Law also hit 13 fours and seemed to be on the way to his 15th first class century on the Chelmsford ground until he tried to pull Brant and top-edged a catch to Essex's Dutch debutant Ryan ten Doeschate running back from square leg.

That leaves him 25 runs short of reaching 20,000 in first class cricket, and he admitted to being disappointed afterwards - although he was already

relishing the prospect of the second innings.

Schofield's sensible unbeaten 35 at least steered Lancashire past 200 for one batting bonus point, then Peter Martin gave them a huge lift by firing out Paul Grayson and James Foster in his first over before bad light and rain rescued Essex's third wicket pair of Nasser Hussain and Andy Flower.

"Knocking those two wickets over gives us a little bit of heart," added Watkinson.

"It's just a shame the bad light came when it did. But the game's still in the balance."