LANCASHIRE are still facing a nervous battle to avoid relegation to the Second Division of the Cricinfo Championship.

Saturday's dull draw at Old Trafford gave them a little more breathing space over Northants, who are now 23 points behind Lancashire.

But they have a game in hand, and more worryingly for Lancashire, so do Glamorgan, who are only 14 points behind and currently occupy the third relegation slot.

Things should be a lot clearer after the next round of fixtures which are spread throughout this week.

Lancashire play bottom of the table Essex at Colchester starting on Wednesday, and will be hoping to complete a double over Ronnie Irani's strugglers.

Tomorrow Glamorgan face a much tougher match at Scarborough against a Yorkshire team bidding to clinch their first Championship title since 1968.

Surrey, who are five and a half points behind Lancashire after being rescued by the rain in Canterbury yesterday, go to Taunton to play Yorkshire's closest challengers, Somerset.

That game starts on Thursday, as does Northants' home match against Leicestershire.

Lancashire should guarantee their safety by beating Essex. But if they don't win in Colchester, they will have to twiddle their thumbs for a fortnight before playing Kent at Old Trafford in the last match of the season.

On Saturday John Crawley and Joe Scuderi hit half centuries as Lancashire reached 243 for seven in their second innings before Crawley declared just before tea.

Crawley made 68 to follow his superb 280 in the first innings, and Scuderi added an unbeaten 61 to the 89 he scored last Wednesday, his third half century in eight Championship innings after such a long wait for the first.

Northants were left with an academic victory target of 349 to win in just over two hours, and had reached 13-1 when the match was abandoned soon after tea.

Crawley took the safe, sensible option of denying the visitors any chance of the win they needed to boost their fading hopes of survival. But he knows that Lancashire still have a lot of work to do. Bottom of the table

P Pts

Lancashire,... 14 134

Surrey... 13 128.5

Glamorgan... 13 120

Northants... 13 111

Essex... 13 91 Remaining fixtures

Lancs: Essex (Colchester), Kent (Old Trafford).

Surrey: Somerset (Taunton), Yorkshire (Oval), Glamorgan (Cardiff).

Glamorgan: Yorkshire (Scarborough), Leics (Grace Road), Surrey (Cardiff).

Northants: Leics (Nmpton), Kent (Canterbury), Somerset (Taunton).

Essex: Lancs (Colchester), Somerset (Chelmsford), Yorkshire (Scarborough).