LANCASHIRE were today hit by a new blow with Jason Gallian ruled out of their dramatic Championship match at Taunton with a broken hand.

The 25-year-old opener was struck on the left hand by a rising delivery from Somerset's Dutch paceman Andrew van Troost in the first over of Lancashire's second innings late yesterday.

He battled on for four overs, but was forced to retire hurt and headed straight for casualty, where after a long wait the local doctors told him the bad news.

There is no chance of him batting again and Gallian will be out for at least three weeks - a cruel blow to his hopes of forcing his way back into England contention.

It is his fifth separate hand injury in the last two years and will leave Lancashire badly stretched with Mike Atherton and John Crawley's Ashes commitments.

They already faced a tough battle to save the Somerset game after being bowled out for 88 in 22.1 overs yesterday morning - the shortest Championship innings for two years, and Lancashire's lowest total since they made 83 against Derbyshire at Blackpool in 1994. Glen Chapple and Peter Martin led an afternoon fightback with four wickets each as Somerset collapsed from 113-1 to 189 all out, a lead of 101.

But Lancashire then lost Gallian and Paddy McKeown, bowled by Graham Rose, and faced a major new threat from Pakistani leg spin wizard Mushtaq Ahmed today.

Coach Dav Whatmore demanded a more determined batting performance second time around.

The pitch was a little damp early yesterday, but it will not be reported by umpires Nigel Plews and jack Bond, who felt Lancashire's collapse was down to a combination of good bowling and poor batting.

Whatmore agreed, saying: "Somerset exploited the conditions well, but our team should be capable of better than that." Today's start was rain delayed.

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