NEIL Fairbrother and Lancashire have finally been cleared of match-fixing.

The club were dragged into Cricket's corruption scandal last summer when Lord's launched a full investigation into allegations made by the former Essex bowler Don Topley in the News of the World.

Topley had claimed that the counties conspired in two games played in August 1991 to give Lancashire a better chance of winning the Sunday League and to put Essex top of the Championship table.

Several players, including Topley, were interviewed last year in the aftermath of the Hansie Cronje scandal, and the English Cricket Board handed over a dossier to Greater Manchester police. But the Manchester detectives concluded there was no evidence for a prosecution and Gerard Elias QC, a member of the Glamorgan committee who conducted the ECB inquiry, has now decided to take no further action.

Lancashire have always strenuously denied the allegations and a spokesman said today: "We are delighted that this is all over."

Fairbrother, who was Lancashire's captain in the two matches, has never commented publicly about the allegations, although he is known to be unhappy with the way they have been handled.