JOHN Crawley is aiming to play through the pain barrier to boost Lancashire's championship bid.

The Red Rose captain was ruled out of the opening game at Canterbury with a thumb injury which will cause him discomfort for several weeks.

But he plans to return to action tomorrow at Old Trafford when Lancashire launch their title campaign in earnest against the 1998 champs Leicester.

Wicketkeeper Warren Hegg who was acting skipper in the rain-ruined game with Kent said: "It was a nasty injury for John but he is vital to our hopes of winning the championship." Crawley said: "It happened when I stubbed my thumb into the ground while fielding in the Benson and Hedges tie against Leicester last week. The ligament is damaged, but I'm very keen to play tomorrow."

Neil Fairbrother, who was also sidelined at Canterbury with a groin strain, is expected to be fit and Lancashire should be able to pick from a full-strength squad.

Hegg added: "We have had a stop-go start to the season and I think everyone in the team would admit that we were lucky to qualify for the B and H quarter-finals.

"Now we need to concentrate on the championship. We want that title. It will be difficult but our coach Bob Simpson has asked for a five per cent improvement from everyone and, if we can produce that, we could go one better after being runners-up for the last two seasons."