JOHN CRAWLEY defied illness to top score for Lancashire on the first day of their Championship match against somerset at Old Trafford, writes ANDY WILSON.

The former England batsman is still recovering from gastroenteritis which he picked up during the last match at Northampton.

"I have lost quite a bit of weight and I have been feeling rough," he confirmed. But he still made the healthiest contribution to another below par Lancashire batting performance.

Crawley stroked 72 from 132 balls, with 11 fours and a six pulled into the pavilion off Graham Rose. It continued his consistent form, with 840 runs from 18 innings in all competitions. And it wasn't the first time Crawley has shown the ability to score runs when feeling under the weather - two years ago, he played a match-winning century while sweating out a fever at Sussex. But of his team-mates, only Warren Hegg came close to matching that application. From the moment Mike Atherton was bowled for a 20-ball duck, too many Lancashire batsmen were out to loose shots.

Paddy McKeown was caught behind down the leg-side off leg-spinner Mushtaq Ahmed with the last ball before lunch, after marking his Championship recall in place of Nathan Wood with 39.

Andy Flintoff was bowled driving at Marcus Trescothick. Graham Lloyd was caught at slip off the next ball as his difficult run continued.

And later Crawley was caught at slip, Wasim Akram caught behind and Ian Austin fell for a golden duck.

Somerset resumed today already on 35 without loss but Peter Martin claimed two quick wickets to leave the visitors on 52-2.

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