NEIL Fairbrother today returned as Lancashire captain.

Fairbrother took over for the Championship game against Northants when Mike Watkinson failed a fitness test on a shoulder injury with three more captaincy contenders definitely missing.

Vice captain Wasim Akram was ruled out by his shoulder problem while Mike Atherton and John Crawley, the third and fourth choices, are on Texaco Trophy duty with England.

Fairbrother has been reluctant to captain Lancashire since resigning in 1993 after two difficult seasons in charge, preferring to work as Wasim's deputy when Watkinson has been absent.

But at 33 he would be left as the senior player if both Watkinson and Wasim were missing. Watkinson waited for the weather to ease to allow him to have a bowl on the Old Trafford outfield before making his final decision.

Lancashire were looking for a repeat of their last home Championship game against Northants two years ago when they were also hit by Test calls to Atherton, Peter Martin, Jason Gallian and Watkinson. Crawley captained the side for the first morning until Watkinson, who was left out of England's eleven against West Indies at Edgbaston, returned to Old Trafford.

And Lancashire went on to crush the visitors in a top of the table clash with a century from Warren Hegg and an outstanding performance from Wasim.

Today young batsmen Nathan Wood and Paddy McKeown were called up to join Steve Titchard, Gary Yates and Gary Keedy, all making their first Championshop appearance of the season - in Wood and McKeown's case, only the second of their career.

But Northants were also without their Pakistan Test bowler, Mohammed Akram, because of a calf strain.

Northants won the toss and were off to a good start at 18 without loss from five overs, Montgomerie and Loye both on 9.

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