DON'T tell John Crawley that Lancashire's match against New Zealand A is a waste of time.

The Red Rose skipper seized the chance of some extra batting practice yesterday at Liverpool by putting his poor Championship form behind him with a determined 156.

"It was a good toss to win," he said modestly afterwards, but Crawley made the most of some friendly Kiwi bowling and a good pitch with an innings which could be one of the most significant of Lancashire's season -- even if it did come in their least important game.

As well as the captain, Crawley remains Lancashire's most important batsman. It's no coincidence that when he fails, they struggle to make a big score -- and that has been the case for most of this season.

Since an opening century against Cambridge University back in April, which followed another on Lancashire's pre season tour of South Africa, he had only managed 91 runs from six Championship innings.

And things had not been any better in one day cricket. As a result Lancashire have been over reliant on Neil Fairbrother and the lower order for runs, and have often left their bowlers with too much to do.

But it was always a matter of time before a batsman of Crawley's class batted his way back to form.

Crawley took more than four hours to reach the 35th first class century of his career.

But he accelerated after tea to add a third 50 in only 46 balls with seven fours and a straight six off leg spinner Brooke Walker. He was looking set for a double century and it was a surprise when he was stumped looking to loft Walker over the top again.

Graham Lloyd also took the chance for a morale-boosting innings, hitting 83 from 72 balls -- his first half century in any cricket all season

But there was disappointment for Mark Chilton, Paddy McKeown and Sourav Ganguly.

They all played themselved in then missed out on the chance to play a long innings. Today's start was delayed.