LANCASHIRE will be glad to get back to championship cricket against Kent on Wednesday after one of the worst spells in their one-day history.
Dumped out of the two knock-out competitions, they slumped to another National League defeat when rejuvenated Derbyshire thrashed them by seven wickets yesterday.
It kept them second from bottom and they now might have to win all their remaining matches to grab promotion. At the moment though, they don't look capable of winning one.
Manager Mike Watkinson admitted: "It seems a long time since we played championship cricket and we're looking forward to Wednesday."
Once one of the country's top one-day outfits, Lancashire are now wooden spoon candidates. Confidence has drained away and the top order batting collapses time and time again.
Derbyshire's seamers exposed the faults by reducing them to 90-5 and, although Ryan Driver, Warren Hegg and Chris Schofield pulled it around to a more respectable 174-7, it was nowhere near enough.
Steve Stubbings rode his luck after two major escapes to steer Derbyshire home with an unbeaten 98, a career best in one-day cricket, with almost four overs to spare finishing it off with a six.
One bright note for Lancashire was the introduction of Ryan Driver, brought in for his first game of the season as a replacement for Andy Flintoff. A huge task -- but he responded well with 25 and six tight overs before his figures suffered from a late Stubbings assault.
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