LANCASHIRE aimed today to shrug off their big championship defeat at Grace Road by stamping their authority on the National League title chase.

The Old Trafford side took on Gloucester at Bristol and captain John Crawley said: "It is a good chance to get the Leicester game out of our system. We had a superb league win at Chelmsford last week, and want to build on that."

Peter Martin, who missed the championship match, was expected to recover from a minor groin strain today and reclaim his place in the attack. But Lancashire were without their World Cup trio of Neil Fairbrother, Andy Flintoff and Ian Austin who linked up with England at Canterbury yesterday, and then left them with big selection posers.

Mike Watkinson, Richard Green, Mark Harvey, Chris Schofield and Mike Smethurst were all in contention.

Lancashire, crushed by 107 runs by high-flying Leicester, hope to have Mike Atherton back in action this month - possibly on May 14 for their next championship game against Northants at Old Trafford.

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