SOURAV Ganguly was aiming to shake off a lacklustre start to his Lancashire career when they faced Durham today in their third Benson and Hedges Cup qualifier.

The India captain misfired badly in the first two games, scoring a total of seven runs, and he has been more noticeable with the ball than with the bat, sending down a full quota of 10 overs in each match.

As he could be missing for a string of games next month when he leads India in the Asia Cup one-day tournament, Lancashire were hoping that he would make a big early impact.

But captain John Crawley said: "I have every sympathy with him. He has only just arrived in the country and has had to cope with the cold weather. It can happen to anyone. He is still a great batsman."

Ganguly is hoping to complete Lancashire's B and H five qualifiers before having to worry about returning to India to help with their match-fixing probe.

Having forcefully denied any knowledge of illegal betting, Ganguly does not believe he can throw any light on the subject, and is prepared to co-operate if it does not affect his Lancashire commitments. But the Indian board are anxious to complete their investigations as soon as possible, and will probably want to see him before the end of the month.