WASIM Akram is fighting to be fit for Lancashire's next Championship Challenge.

The break in the fixture list could not have come at a better time for the Red Rose skipper, as he tries to overcome the muscle strain which has affected him all week.

"I had to take a couple of painkilling injections to play in the game at Surrey, and they got me through fine," he explained. "But hopefully now I can give it some rest and there will be no problems for next week."

Lancashire have a five-day break before getting the chance to make up for yesterday's Benson and Hedges Cup disappointment, when they were dumped out at the quarter-final stage by holders Surrey.

Dav Whatmore's men face Northamptonshire hoping to catapult themselves into the top six - but they will probably have to do it without in-form batsman Mike Atherton.

The former national team captain has come good at just the right time with 70 against Essex and a Gold Award-winning 93 at The Oval and, with the selectors meeting tomorrow to decide the England squad for the First Test with South Africa at Edgbaston, it would be a major shock if Atherton's name was omitted.

John Crawley, Lancashire's other realistic Test hope, could be overlooked again, and will have to produce, as he puts it, a "stack more of runs" at county level.

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