1999 will inevitably go down in Lancashire cricket history as Muttiah Muralitharan's summer.

In 11 beguiling weeks, he claimed a phenomenal 66 Championship wickets at an average of 11.77 - causing fresh concern, along with Surrey's overseas spin magician Saqlain Mushtaq, about the state of English batsmanship, but more important, from Lancashire's point of view, dragging them from the bottom three of the table to the all-important top nine.

The last season of the 20th century could prove just as significant for Lancashire, though, as the year in which John Crawley established himself as captain.

It seemed unusual, when England were going through yet another selection crisis at the end of the season, for Crawley's name to be nowhere in sight when it came to picking the winter tour squads.

All through his outstanding schoolboy career, Crawley followed inexorably in Mike Atherton's footsteps. But now, it appears, he faces a long wait until another international chance. And that means, as he does not turn 28 until next week, that he could be Lancashire captain for years to come.

Crawley was confronted with a tricky prospect when he was appointed to succeed Wasim Akram last winter. After finishing second in the Championship and lifting two one-day trophies, Wasim's team had given the new skipper a tough act to follow. Then Lancashire lost Andy Flintoff, Ian Austin and Neil Fairbrother to the World Cup for the first part of the summer. Atherton's future was in doubt because of his back injury. Muralitharan was only available for a handful of matches. And as if that wasn't bad enough, in mid-season Lancashire lost their coach, Dav Whatmore, to Sri Lanka.

But after a worryingly slow start, when - with the exception of Mark Chilton - Lancashire's young batting reserves failed to step into the gap left by Fairbrother, Flintoff and Atherton, Crawley ends the season firmly established at the helm.

This despite a personal season with the bat way down on his golden 1998 summer, which kept his name well away from international speculation. But since the departure of Whatmore, he has linked up with the senior players - vice captain Warren Hegg, senior pro Fairbrother and also Atherton, Peter Martin and Graham Lloyd - to steer Lancashire to a highly successful season.

Although there was no trip to Lord's this year, they are one of only four counties - Yorkshire, Somerset and Leicestershire are the others - who will be playing First Division cricket in both the PPP County Championship and the CGU National League next season. Obviously, Murali played a huge part in that, spinning Lancashire to four consecutive victories over Essex, Glamorgan, Hampshire and Derbyshire after they had lost his first two games against Warwickshire and Surrey.

But Martin played an invaluable supporting role with the ball then assumed greater responsibility when Murali left to finish the season with a flourish, and almost 50 wickets.

The spinning support cast of Mike Watkinson, Gary Yates, Gary Keedy and especially Chris Schofield also chipped in at various times.

And with the bat, after Chilton's early season promise faded, Crawley and especially Lloyd picked up the baton - Lloyd playing match-winning innings against Notts, Derbyshire and Kent before finishing with a rapid century at Somerset.

Flintoff scored three truly memorable centuries in Gloucestershire and Essex and against Yorkshire at Old Trafford, as well as producing the quickest spell of the season to take five wickets at Hampshire. Hegg, discarded by England despite sharing in their Melbourne triumph, scored his usual quota of handy runs, kept tidily (often in a gumshield to the spinners), supported Crawley and enjoyed the successful benefit year he deserved.

Off the field, Old Trafford has taken on a new look with the Lancashire Lodge, a big gap where H-stand used to be, and an appallingly naff mascot called Sugar for the four otherwise successful day-night games.

But the last six weeks of the season were marred by a stalemate in Flintoff's well-publicised talks with the club for a new contract, and even now "Freddie" and several other senior players - including Crawley - are still in negotiations.

The signs are that they will all stay, despite Lancashire's genuine financial worries. And maybe, with Murali available for more matches and Crawley established as skipper, the first ever two-division Championship could herald Old Trafford's first outright title since 1934.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.