IAIN SUTCLIFFE was willing to bat with a fractured cheekbone to keep Lancashire's National League promotion drive on track at Old Trafford on Sunday.

And according to Red Rose skipper Warren Hegg: "Wild horses couldn't have stopped him going out to the middle if we'd only needed a few more to win".

Sutcliffe suffered a sickening blow to the side of his head early in Lancashire's innings, with a bouncer from impressive young Durham paceman Liam Plunkett squeezing through the gap in his helmet.

After lengthy treatment, the former Oxford University boxer wanted to bat on, and had to be persuaded to retire hurt by his opening partner Mal Loye and Lancashire's physio Craig Smith.

He went straight to hospital where x-rays showed a fracture - but the Yorkshireman insisted on returning to Old Trafford and then, with Glen Chapple running out of partners in the tense run chase, ignored the protests of his team-mates by strapping on his pads.

"His face is in a terrible state and the physio didn't want him to bat," added Hegg. "But Sutty is one tough man, and I wouldn't have liked to stop him.

"Fortunately it didn't come to that but it just shows the spirit of the team and the quality of the signings we made last winter in Sutty and Mal Loye."

Now the worry for Lancashire is how long Sutcliffe will be ruled out.

A fractured cheekbone usually means an absence of around six weeks, but it might not be as bad as that with physio Smith, who spent 11 years working in South African cricket before coming to England this summer, revealing that Gary Kirsten had once returned from a similar injury in less than a fortnight.

Obviously, he won't play in Lancashire's last Twenty20 Cup game, also against Durham at Old Trafford tonight.

Manager Mike Watkinson said: " We will be fixed together with a piece of string."

Loye, Chris Schofield and Peter Martin are also all carrying knocks.

However, more importantly, Sutcliffe seems certain to be missing when Lancashire resume their Championship challenge against Essex at Chelmsford on Wednesday, July 2.