THE spotlight was on Sourav Ganguly at Old Trafford today as Lancashire returned to Championship action against Kent.

The tension between the Indian and his Lancashire team mates, which has been bubbling under the surface all season, came into public view in Tuesday night's floodlit defeat by Kent, when Ganguly was clearly upset when none of his team mates left the dressing room to applaud his half century.

That followed a call in Tuesday's Daily Telegraph for Ganguly to be paid up and sent home because of his dismissal, in bright blue shoes, in the NatWest semi-final at Bristol.

But Lancashire chairman Jack Simmons has backed his overseas player, and Ganguly retained his place in the team today despite the groin injury which he aggravated again on Tuesday night.

It was Lancashire's first Championship match since their disappointing defeat by Surrey at the Oval almost two weeks ago, and coach Bob Simpson was hoping that his players would take the chance to bounce back from this week's one-day disappointments. "That's obviously what we are looking for," said the veteran Australian. "We have only played one bad match in the Championship, the last one against Surrey. Other than that we have generally played pretty solid cricket, particularly at home with the good spinners we've got. Hopefully they will be able to create a lot of problems for Kent."

Simpson also welcomed Peter Martin's return to Championship action after missing the last seven games with his thumb injury.

Martin had started the season superbly, with 18 wickets in six innings, until he was hit on the right glove by Dominic Cork on May 31, and he is still riding high in the top three of the first class averages.

He has bowled 22 overs since returning to first team action in the National League game against Gloucestershire last Friday and Simpson added: "Peter is starting to bowl with a bit more rhythm now. He's lost a little bit of pace which is only to be expected after being out for so long, but there were some good signs against Kent the other night. He's a vital part of the Lancashire attack and has been for a long long while, so to have him back is a huge bonus for us."

Lancashire started the game third in the table, with Surrey already well on course to beat Derbyshire at the Oval and extend their lead at the top after skittling them for 118 on the first day yesterday.

But Yorkshire were finding things tougher at Leicester so a win for Lancashire could take them back to second.