IMAGINE Batistuta and Ortega had scored late goals to beat England in Sapporo yesterday - that's how Warren Hegg and his Lancashire team felt after a truly heartbreaking defeat by Warwickshire at Old Trafford yesterday.

To compound their agony it was their fourth in a semi final in the last three years.

"It's bitterly disappointing," was all Hegg could bring himself to say when he was interviewed by Paul Allott on the pavilion balcony after Warwickshire's last man Neil Carter had swept the last ball of the match from Glen Chapple for four to snatch a one-wicket win.

Mark Chilton, who claimed the small consolation of the Gold Award for his second Benson and Hedges Cup century of the season, could hardly talk at all.

A classic match had swung to and fro throughout, but appeared to have tilted decisively Lancashire's way with a brilliant piece of fielding by Andy Flintoff on the mid wicket boundary running out Dougie Brown off the penultimate ball.

That brought Carter to the crease needing two to bring the scores level at 211 for nine and take Warwickshire to Lords because they had a better score after 15 overs.

The South African seamer, one of the growing number of extra overseas players in county cricket because they have a British passport, is not even a regular in the Bears team.

But he spotted that Lancashire had fine leg up inside the circle, plonked his front foot down the pitch and swept Chapple over the fielder, then charged towards the pavilion punching the air to be mobbed by his jubilant team-mates.

Hegg, in stark contrast, sank to the ground in despair with several of his team-mates.

He had been so desperate to lead out Lancashire at Lords for the first time, in the last B&H final. Now their wait for a big day out, which goes back to the 1998 NatWest Trophy final when they beat Derbyshire, goes on, and it is Warwickshire who will face Ronnie Irani's Essex a fortnight today.

"There's no point trying to find what went wrong on the last ball or the first ball, because you could be here all night," reflected cricket manager Mike Watkinson.

"There was nothing in the game and it is so disappointing to lose it at the death."

Watkinson praised Chilton, who batted for all but one ball of the Lancashire innings to make his 101, following 102 in a group game against Notts and 76 not out in the C&G thrashing of Derbyshire last month.

He steered Lancashire out of early trouble at 36 for three helped by solid support from Flintoff, Hegg and Graham Lloyd, and the manager said: "It was the innings we needed and Mark has come of age in one-day cricket this season."

They then reduced Warwickshire to 130 for six before Brown and Neil Smith put on 60 for the seventh wicket to set up the most dramatic finish.

At least Lancashire have time to lick their wounds, with only a three-day friendly against Durham University starting next Wednesday before they go to Ilford to face Essex in the National League tomorrow week.

But today they were as depressed as any group of sportsmen in the country. Hegg had spoken of the B&H semi final victory over Yorkshire in 1995 in the build-up to the match, when Peter Martin hit Craig White's last ball for two to take Lancashire to Lords. Now he and Lancashire know how Yorkshire felt.