THERE is no doubt that the advent of one-day Cricket brought about a revival in the sport but now, 28 years after the introduction of the Gillette Cup, things have changed so much that opinions are varied on the way forward for the short-over game.

Two lifelong members of the county club express two quite opposite opinions in the Lancashire Cricket Yearbook (LCCC £8).

Colin Evans, a self-confessed "fuddy-duddy," and Michael Kennedy, the music critic of the Daily Telegraph, give their views on how the all-singing, all-dancing version of the one-day game affects them.

Evans, who is expecting to take his grandson to Old Trafford next season, sees all the razz-a-matazz as vital to maintain interest from the younger generation. Kennedy recalls that Sir John Gielgud said of Mozart's Don Giovanni, when he had been engaged to produce the opera, "Oh do stop that dreadful music"! And he feels that a similar statement should be made to cricket administrators who stage the modern game.

"Floodlit cricket, with its music and sideshows, is a good way of attracting family groups" says Evans who would like more games of such a nature staged at county headquarters. Kennedy feels that such action is "a dumbing-down of sport and cricket generally" and asks of the National League competition: "Who that truly loves the game cares about Kent Spitfires and Somerset Sabres?" They are two splendid articles from diametrically opposed viewpoints that go towards making this year's Lancashire Cricket Yearbook still the best of the 18 first-class counties. In addition to the usual mix of statistics, player profiles and full summary of the past season, there are articles on Ken Grieves, one of the rare breed of footballer/cricketers, Ernest Tyldesley and the 1959 Lancashire League season.

All of which make the book an entertaining read for those lazy moments when bat hits ball on a lush greensward on a lovely sunny afternoon. That is, of course, if Queen, Paul Young or Eric Clapton are not disrupting the afternoon's proceedings!