IAIN Sutcliffe maintained his love of Exmouth and the Devon bowlers to steer Lancashire into the fourth round of the C&G Trophy yesterday.

Now the tall left-hander faces a showdown with his former Leicestershire captain Vince Wells when Lancashire go to Durham in the fifth round later this month.

Sutcliffe struck an unbeaten 89 as Lancashire cruised past Devon's total of 180 with nine wickets and almost 10 of their 50 overs to spare, with Mark Chilton also hitting a half century after John Wood, Peter Martin and Andy Flintoff had done the business with the ball.

Devon were just relieved that there was no repeat of Sutcliffe's performance on a previous trip to Exmouth with Leicester, when he hit a century and smashed a window on one of the committee's cars.

The only disappointment for the Yorkshireman, shared by his new Lancashire team-mates, was that he missed out on the man of the match award.

That went to Neil Hancock, Devon's Australian all-rounder who hit an unbeaten 73 in their innings including two sixes off Flintoff, whose 10 overs went for 54.

Martin and Wood were more economical, with Digger doing the early damage and ending with two for 30 while Wood mopped up the tail to earn four for 33.

Wood will also relish another chance to return to Durham, his old county, in the last 16, and Lancashire will have a major psychological advantage after their comfortable National League win at the Riverside earlier this week.

But Durham bounced back impressively yesterday with a nine-wicket demolition of Berkshire - led by Wells, who quit as Leicestershire captain to join them in the winter, and followed career best bowling figures of six for 20 by smashing 63 not out off only 61 balls.

He missed Monday's defeat by Lancashire with a groin injury, but will make them a tougher proposition in the C&G.

Meanwhile, Lancashire return to Championship action against Middlesex at Lord's tomorrow.

Carl Hooper is unlikely to be available, despite their on-going efforts to register the former West Indies captain as an overseas replacement for Harbhajan Singh, but James Anderson will definitely return after resting his slight ankle injury again yesterday.