LANCASHIRE pushed open the door to the Cheltenham and Gloucester Trophy's last eight with a superb bowling performance against Sussex.

Andy Flintoff, desperate to impress the England selectors, led the way with 2-19 from 10 overs in difficult conditions as Sussex stumbled to 119-7 off 38 overs.

The rain-hit clash resumed today with Lancashire aiming to book a home quarter-final against Durham on July 23 or 25.

"We are in a good position," said coach Bob Simpson. "It was a superb all round performance, considering the conditions."

Rain delayed the start until mid-afternoon, and caused other interruptions, and a howling wind added to the problems. But Flintoff was magnificent, sending back danger man Murray Goodwin and Bas Zuiderent in successive balls.

John Wood also impressed with two early wickets and Mike Atherton, shrugging off the furore over the England captaincy, held on to three smart catches at first slip.

Atherton refused to enter the argument over whether he or Marcus Trescothick should take over from the injured Nasser Hussain at Lord's next week, but showed that his reflexes are as sharp as ever.

A delighted Simpson announced: "We took all our catches and controlled our bowling. It was a highly satisfactory performance."

Lancashire need a good run in this tournament. Their championship hopes took a knock in last week's defeat by Kent and, unless they beat second division leaders Durham on Sunday, they will face a formidable promotion task in the Norwich Union League.

And, despite Durham's recent one-day revival, a home clash with the North-East outfit would give Lancashire a gilt-edged chance of reaching the semis.

HEREFORDSHIRE'S Cheltenham & Gloucester Trophy dream turned into a nightmare when Worcestershire strolled to a seven-wicket victory at New Road.

The minor county put out Middlesex in round three, but there was to be no repeat of their three-wicket triumph as Worcestershire reached their victory target of 211 with more than 12 overs to spare.

CHELTENHAM & GLOUCESTER TROPHY

Fourth Round: Bristol - Durham 232 (J J B Lewis 65 no, J M M Averis 4-42) v Gloucestershire 229-9 (M G N Windows 56) Durham beat Gloucestershire by 3 runs

Canterbury - Northamptonshire 200 (J P Taylor 57, A Symonds 5-21) v Kent 204-4 (D P Fulton 63) Kent beat Northamptonshire by 6 wkts

Trent Bridge - Nottinghamshire 176 v Leicestershire 125-3

Taunton - Glamorgan 269-6 Innings Complete (M P Maynard 93 no, M J Powell 52) v Somerset 270-3 (M E Trescothick 121, J Cox 63 no) Somerset beat Glamorgan by 7 wkts

Edgbaston - Essex 160 (N M Carter 4-21) v Warwickshire 161-5 (D R Brown 52 no) Warwickshire beat Essex by 5 wkts

New Road - Herefordshire 210 (R Nagra 105) v Worcestershire 214-3 (G A Hick 101 no) Worcestershire beat Herefordshire by 7 wkts

Headingley - Surrey 243-10 Innings Complete (I J Ward 81, M R Ramprakash 51) v Yorkshire 131-4

QUARTER-FINAL DRAW

Yorkshire/Surrey v Warwickshire

Lancashire/Sussex v Durham

Kent v Somerset

Worcestershire v Nottinghamshire/Leicestershire

MATCHES to be played July 24/25.