MARK Chilton and Glen Chapple staked their claim to be Lancashire's regular one-day openers and put the county back on course for the Benson and Hedges Cup quarter finals.

After failures in the first two group games, Chilton and Chapple got Lancashire off to flyer against Notts at Old Trafford with a stand of 89 in 18 overs.

Chapple, who loves the chance to show his all-round skills, slammed a 53-ball half century including a superb hooked six off South African paceman Greg Smith.

But it was Chilton who won the Gold Award as man of the match, cruising on to his first one-day century for Lancashire from 118 balls, with his second 50 coming from only 41.

With Stuart Law and Graham Lloyd also chipping in, Lancashire piled up 297 for five in their 50 overs against a woeful Notts attack.

And even after that target had been reduced to 215 from 27 overs by the Duckworth-Lewis method after a couple of heavy showers, Lancashire were always on top.

The win gives them three points from three matches, only two points behind the group leaders Leicestershire - who come to Old Trafford tomorrow, when Andy Flintoff will return to give Lancashire a massive boost. Then they face Yorkshire at Headingley in a likely crunch match on Bank Holiday Monday.

"We're back in it now," said skipper Warren Hegg, who praised Chilton for his batting, fielding - and being able to add up.

"He was tremendous," added Chuckie. "Not only did he score a century and field well, he also kept count of how many overs each bowler had left for me, because I was too busy keeping wicket."

Chilton, who has also made a solid start to the season in the Championship, was delighted to have proved his worth in the one-day game.

"I haven't made a great impact in limited overs cricket for Lancashire so maybe I can go on from this," he said.

"It was good for me opening with Chappy because I could do my job and let him get on with it. It meant I wasn't under pressure."

Peter Martin put the skids under the Notts reply with a couple of early wickets, before John Wood grabbed four for 31 - his best figures for Lancashire.

Kyle Hogg claimed the scalp of Lance Klusener in front of his watching father Willie and grandfather Sonny Ramadhin, and Chris Schofield took his first two wickets of the season to complete a good day for Lancashire.

Now bring on Leicestershire - and Freddie.