SAURAV Ganguly (above) today went into an Old Trafford dressing room packed with international stars.

And he could not understand why Glen Chapple was not one of them.

"Why hasn't he played for England?" asked the India captain before the Benson and Hedges Cup opener against Notts.

"I played against him on England A's tour of India a few years ago and thought he was one of the best young bowlers I'd seen. I thought he would be playing Test cricket very soon."

Ganguly, of course, made the step up. A year after that A series he was making his Test debut at Lord's, scoring a sensational century and following that up with another in the next match at Trent Bridge. He hasn't looked back since.

In the same 12 months, Earby-born Chapple faded from the selectors' thoughts, mainly due to injury and the loss of confidence which followed.

Since then he has bowled his heart out for Lancashire without ever quite fulfilling his old potential.

It comes as a surprise to some that he is still only 26, still with the time to hit the top. And he is hoping that Ganguly's arrival will be a spur.

"He is a world-class batsman and hopefully he will help us to post the big totals which we need. Chapple said: "That will help us to put pressure on the opposition batsmen, and I'm looking forward to a lot of bowling.

"A seam bowler like me needs to get into a rhythm and to keep it. It didn't work like that last year, because Muralitharan was bowling almost non-stop at one end. No complaints about that, he was sensational, but it meant that the seamers didn't see so much of the ball. It will be different this time. We'll have to work hard but I will enjoy that," he added. Lancashire selected from a squad of 13 today and will keep the same players for the rest of this week's B and H qualifiers including tomorrow's game against Yorkshire at Headingley.

SOME of Lancashire's great players will be honoured at an Old Trafford dinner on Monday. Jack Simmons and Graeme Fowler are among the speakers and the guests include: Clive Lloyd, Farokh Engineer, Frank Hayes, Barry Wood, Peter Lever, Jack Bond, Ken Shuttleworth, David Hughes, John Abrahams.

There are some tickets left at £25 -- ring Gary Porter on 0161 282 4053.