JASON GALLIAN and Lancashire shrugged off a Championship disaster with Sunday success at Old Trafford yesterday.

On Saturday they had slumped to a bitterly disappointing six wicket defeat by Nottinghamshire which leaves them bottom of the Championship table.

And Gallian bagged the first pair of his career!

But in the Axa Life League game it was a different story as Gallian steered Lancashire to a tense two-wicket victory which keeps them joint top with three wins out of three.

Notts were bowled out for just 139, but Lancashire then slipped into trouble at 87-6 with their Texaco Trophy trio contributing just 29 runs between them.

But Gallian, who had come in at number three when pinch-hitter Mike Watkinson was out in the second over, held firm and ended with 54 not out from 101 balls as Glen Chapple hit the winning runs with two overs to spare.

"It was hard work especially when we lost Neil Fairbrother and Ian Austin to consecutive balls," the 25-year-old reflected.

"But Gary Yates came in and did a great job, and after I had a chat with Glen to decide that we'd get the last four runs in singles, he hit the next ball for four."

Yates hit a quick 17, three more runs than he had conceded in a superb eight over spell which put the brakes on Notts and also brought him the wickets of Mathew Dowman and Wayne Noon.

Watkinson was almost as effective with his off spin, claiming 3-26, while Ian Austin took 1-14 from eight typically mean overs.

It was an excellent performance from Lancashire especially as they were without Wasim Akram, who aggravated his shoulder injury in bowling only two overs in the Championship match on Saturday.

Wasim was having a check at Old Trafford today but is a big doubt for the Championship match against Northants starting on Wednesday, when Lancashire will definitely be without their three Texaco Trophy players.

P Pollard c Chapple b Martin ... 2

M Dowman b Yates ... 20

P Johnson c Hegg b Austin ... 2

G Archer c Hegg b Chapple ... 14

A Metcalfe c Gallian b Watkinson ... 36

n Gie st Hegg b Watkinson ... 9

W Noon c Watkinson b Yates ... 3

K Evans st Hegg b Watkinson ... 20

R Bates run out ... 4

R Pick c Gallian b Martin ... 8

M Bowne not out ... 0

Extras ... 21

Total (all out) ... 139

Bowling: Austin 8-2-14-1; Martin 7.4-0-28-2; Gallian 2-0-14-0; Chapple 6-0-37-1; Yates 8-1-14-2; Watkinson 8-0-26-3

M Watkinson c Pollard b Pick ... 5

M Atherton b Dowman ... 13

J Gallian not out ... 54

J Crawley c Noon b Bowen ... 9

G Lloyd c Noon b Dowman ... 5

N Fiarbrother lbw Bowen ... 16

I Austin c and b Bowen ... 0

W Hegg c Johnson b Bates ... 8

G Yates c Pollard b Evans ... 17

G Chapple not out ... 4

Extras ... 10

Total (8 wkts) ... 141

bowling: Evans 7-0-20-1; Pick 6.5-0-30-1; Dowman 8-0-31-2; Bowen 8-0-28-3; Bates 8-1-29-1 Texaco Squad: Mike Atheton (Lancs, capt) age 29, caps 50; Nick Knight (Warwicks) 27, 10; Alex Stewart (Surrey, wk) 34, 87; Graham Thorpe (Surrey) 27, 36; Graham Lloyd (Lancs) 27, 2; John Crawley (Lancs) 25, 9; Mark Ealham (Kent) 27, 2; Adam Hollioake (Surrey) 25, 2; Ben Hollioake (Surrey) 19, 0; Phil DeFreitas (Derbyshire) 31, 101; Darren Gough (Yorks) 26, 35; Dean Headley (Kent) 27, 2; Chris Silverwood (Yorks) 22, 5; Robert Croft (Glamorgan) 26, 11; Ashley Giles (Warwicks) 24, 0.

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