LANCASHIRE give youth a fling as the cricket season gets under way - weather permitting - with a three-day game at Cambridge University starting tomorrow.

With Andy Flintoff, Ian Austin and Neil Fairbrother in Sharjah with England, and Mike Atherton ruled out by his back injury, coach Dav Whatmore hands an early chance to a host of the club's younger players.

And with the England trio unlikely to be available until after the World Cup, places in next Tuesday's County Championship opener against Sussex at Old Trafford are very much up for grabs.

Nathan Wood and Paddy McKeown will open the batting, Mark Harvey is named in the middle order, Jamie Haynes fills in for Warren Hegg as wicket keeper, and the bowling attack includes Richard Green, leg spinner Chris Schofield and a first class debutant in Michael Smethurst.

Smethurst, a seamer from Middleton, joined the Old Trafford staff at the end of last season and Whatmore said: "He's a strong lad and a very intelligent one who did well on our pre season tour of South Africa.

"Our young players have a big role to play this season and this is a first chance for them to make an impression."

John Crawley, a Cambridge graduate himself, will captain the side with Glen Chapple returning from the knee injury he picked up in South Africa.

Lancashire (probable): Wood, McKeown, Crawley (captain), Lloyd, Harvey, Watkinson, Haynes, Schofield, Chapple, Green, Smethurst.

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