JOHN Crawley hammered a brilliant century at Grace Road to remind the England selectors that he is still the country's best player of spin.

And that could force his way into their discussions when they pick the winter tour squad this weekend for the Test series in Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

England need a batsman to combat the magic of Saqlain Mushtaq and Muttiah Muralitharan and Crawley underlined his skill by mastering Indian leg-spin supremo Anil Kumble in the championship match with Leicester.

It should remind England of the way he hammered a magnificent 156 against Sri Lanka's Muralitharan at the Oval in 1998 -- and anyone who can cope with the magical Murali should be an automatic pick for the tour.

One of Crawley's great virtues is his patience It serves him well against the very best spinners, and also when he is going through a bad patch as he did so in the first half of this summer.

Since then he has come good -- this was his third championship century -- and, while it is too late for him to recapture his England spot for the Oval next week, he now has a great chance of earning a winter contract. Crawley said: "I've never given up hope of playing Test cricket again -- I've just got to keep making big scores and see what happens."

It was one of Lancashire's most productive days of the season. They quickly ripped out the last three Leicester batsmen, then dominated an injury weakened attack to pile up 334-3 with Crawley unbeaten on 129. LEICESTERSHIRE

D Maddy c Chilton b Flintoff ... 26

I Sutcliffe lbw Chapple ... 7

B Smith c Chiltonb Smethurst ... 10

A Habib c Atherton b Schofield ... 93

D Stevens c Fairbrother b Flintoff ... 0

J Dakin c Ganguly b Schofield ... 50

P DeFreitas b Smethurst ... 97

N Burns b Schofield ... 15

A Kumble b Chapple ... 28

C Crowe not out ... 0

J Ormond b Chapple ... 0

Extras ... 48

Total (all out) ... 372

Bowling: Chapple 19-4-54-3; Smethurst 21-3-72-2; Flintoff 13-3-43-2; Ganguly 9-1-45-0; Keedy 16-3-49-0; Schofield 27-3-78-3; Chilton 1-0-3-0; Fairbrother 3-1-6-0

LANCASHIRE

M Atherton lbw DeFreitas ... 48

M Chilton b DeFreitas ... 21

J Crawley c Stevens b Dakin ... 139

A Flintoff c Sutcliffe b Kumble ... 55

S Ganguly not out ... 47

N Fairbrother not out...11

Extras ... 51

Total (4 wkts) ... 372

Overnight bowling: Ormond 12-2-26-0; Dakin 14-2-50-0; DeFreitas 17-2-45-2; Kumble 29-6-95-1; Crowe 20-2-74-0; Maddy 6-1-21-0