ENGLAND have put Dav Whatmore on their list of candidates to take over as coach from David Lloyd.

Lord's officials have made an official approach to Lancashire, and have asked Whatmore to prepare his CV for an interview sometime in the next fortnight.

The Sri Lankan born, Aussie educated Whatmore is an outsider facing opposition from Bob Woolmer, John Wright, Duncan Fletcher and Jack Birkenshaw among others, but his success with Sri Lanka and at Old Trafford has at least put him in the frame. A five-man ECB panel will decide who fills the gap left by Lloyd's departure to Sky TV and they hope to announce their man before the end of June in time for the Test series against New Zealand.

But they are prepared to wait if necessary - which means it is premature to rule out Woolmer whose chances seemed to have faded by saying he needed time off from international cricket.

The 57-year-old Birkenshaw is hotly fancied because of his part in Leicester's two recent championship triumphs, but age and lack of international experience might tell against him. Whatmore began a new two-year contract with Lancashire in January but, as in the case of Lloyd, the club will not stand in his way if England want him.

Meanwhile, Lancashire were heading for an unwanted record at rain-hit Bristol today. With play washed out for the second day running they were in danger of topping 1000 overs lost to the weather in the first two months of the season. "It's a terrible situation for us, it puts us at a massive disadvantage," said coach Dav Whatmore. Yesterday's rain meant that Lancashire had lost eight full championship days out of a possible 22 - and only two of those came at Old Trafford, in the game with Sussex. The Lord's clash with Middlesex was totally wiped out, one of the rare fixtures in the club's history to be abandoned without a ball bowled, and already half the current match has gone down the drain.

Play finally got started, late, today with Lancashire 6-0 off 2.4overs.

Wasim Akram has appealed for peace when Pakistan and India clash at Old Trafford on Tuesday.

The World Cup Supersix tie has sounded security alarms because of the fighting in Kashmir, and Wasim said: "I hope the fans co-operate, because it's just a game of cricket that we want to enjoy."

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