NEIL Fairbrother lost his unbeaten semi-final record with Lancashire yesterday -- but no-one could blame the veteran left-hander.

Fairbrother did his level best to repair another disastrous Lancashire start with a battling 74 despite suffering a calf injury halfway through his innings and having to bat with a runner.

But Lancashire were always chasing the game after allowing Gloucestershire to score 220-6 on a slow pitch then slumping to 19 for three in their reply, and they ended up 15 runs short.

"We were beaten by the better team," conceded captain John Crawley.

"We have dug ourselves out of trouble several times this season, but this was one time too many. Harvey was left with far too much to do."

Crawley has been concerned about the form of Lancashire's top batsmen -- including himself -- all season, and yesterday proved his point.

The game of opening with Mike Watkinson failed, and both Crawley and Andy Flintoff were out for ducks to a lively opening burst from Mike Smith.

Fairbrother linked up with Mike Atherton to steady the ship, but it was slow going for Atherton who crawled to 27 in 74 balls before falling to Gloucester spinner Jeremy Snape. Graham Lloyd also went cheaply and Lancashire were deep in trouble at 87-5.

Fairbrother and Warren Hegg did their best in a sixth wicket stand of 72 in 15 overs.

But halfway through their stand, just when Fairbrother was threatening to cut loose with two boundaries off Snape, the 36-year-old called for treatment from physio Lawrie Brown.

"It's something in the calf, but I don't know how it happened really," said a depressed Fairbrother afterwards.

Hegg went for 30 and after Fairbrother's dismissal Lancashire limped to 205-9. Gloucestershire's captain Mark Alleyne paid tribute to Fairbrother, but significantly he believed that the game was won and lost in the first innings.

"We were never worried because we knew our score was big enough," said the cheerful Londoner.

Ian Austin was his usual economical self, conceding only 17 runs from 10 overs, but Watkinson and Chris Schofield both went for five an over and Peter Martin conceded 49 in nine overs including 27 in a wayward first four.

Lancashire now go back to Championship action against Derbyshire at Old Trafford tomorrow with Fairbrother's injury adding to their selection headaches.

Sourav Ganguly and England trio Atherton, Flintoff and Schofield are all missing, forcing Lancashire to dig deep into their resources.