LANCASHIRE are running out of chances to get their game back together for the NatWest Trophy final after the rain came to their rescue at Headingley yesterday.

They have just three more games - in the Championship and Sunday League against Sussex at Hove this week then Middlesex at Old Trafford in the four days leading up to the final - before taking on in-form Essex at Lord's.

Only 13 overs were possible on the last day of the Roses match as Warren Hegg and Richard Green saw Lancashire through to safety, and an eight points draw, after Darren Gough fired out Nick Speak and Glen Chapple with consecutive balls.

But Lancashire's final score, effectively 25 for seven in their second innings, showed how comprehensively they had been outplayed.

And after a six wicket thrashing in the Sunday League game at Headingley, they are badly in need of a confidence boost.

They will be without Texaco Trophy trio Mike Atherton, Graham Lloyd and Peter Martin at Hove on Thursday, although John Crawley returns.

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