JAMIE HAYNES received a reward for his patience as he was thrown into Lancashire's Championship relegation struggle at Hove today.

Haynes took the gloves for the game against Sussex with skipper Warren Hegg still ruled out by the dislocated finger he suffered in last week's defeat by Yorkshire - a result which has left Lancashire in the bottom three of the First Division.

The 28-year-old has had a long wait for a taste of first team action this season, with only the friendlies against Durham University and West Indies A before Tuesday's Norwich Union League game under the Hove floodlights - when he took four catches then had to bat at the death, and ended unbeaten on seven as John Wood hit the winning runs.

But that is the way it has been for Haynes for the last seven summers since he made his first team debut, with Hegg hardly ever missing a match.

He had only played in 11 first class matches before this year, with another nine in one-day cricket.

But he has never let Lancashire down and his improving batting ability persuaded coach Bob Simpson to use him as an opener for three Championship games last year.

Haynes started well with 57 against Surrey at the Oval but the experiment was abandoned after five consecutive failures, and he returned to his more familiar role as the second team wicket keeper.

Stuart Law continued to deputise as captain in the absence of Hegg and the club vice captain Andy Flintoff, aiming for a repeat of the double century he scored against Sussex at Old Trafford. Neil Fairbrother, who took over as captain after Hegg's injury in the Roses match, returned to the team after being left out of Tuesday's floodlit win, but was left to concentrate on his batting.

And Lancashire's bowling attack received a huge boost with Peter Martin available again to link up with Glen Chapple and Burnley's James Anderson after missing the last three games with a rib injury.

Martin is still Lancashire's leading Championship wicket taker with 33 from only seven matches but Chapple, Anderson and Gary Keedy are close behind with 30, 28 and 29 respectively.

Sussex are fourth in the table after a superb recent win against Surrey but still not completely safe from relegation themselves, and as usual Chris Adams was the major threat after matching Law with a half century in the Old

Trafford match, which ended in a rain-affected draw.

LANCASHIRE'S outside chance of earning promotion in the Norwich Union League suffered a blow last night with Surrey beating Hampshire at the Oval to go six points clear of Lightning in third.

Meanwhile in the First Division, Steve Waugh made a superb debut for Kent with an unbeaten 59 to steer them to a tense victory over Leicestershire at Canterbury which preserved the Spitfires' hopes of retaining their title.

Lancashire will face Waugh in Canterbury in their penultimate Championship match of the season next month.