FORMER Lancashire star Ian Austin is urging the Red Rose county to give youth a chance next season.

The new Frizzell County Championship Division 2 champions got to the semi-final of the C&G Trophy and the final of the Twenty20 Cup but Austin reckons that there are still many questions the Lancashire side need to answer.

And Austin believes the next generation, like Chorley pro Tom Smith who has been called into the ECB Academy squad, should be given their chance from the start of the season.

He said: "I think in the Championship they were reasonable but the one-day performances were disappointing.

"Having to win the last game to stay in the top divison of the ToteSport League isn't a good season in my book and they were well beaten in the C&G semi and the Twenty20 final so overall you can just say it was satisfactory.

"But they need to look at the line-up. They lost (Muttiah) Muralitharan but (Murali) Kartik came in and did well. Andrew Symonds came in and did unbelievably well for the last couple of months and he got the player of the year award. That can't be right and that has to put a question mark over a few of the players' performances.

"He came in and scored plenty of runs and took some wickets at a vital time so you have to ask would they have been in the position of having the chance of winning the league without him and you would have to say no."

And Austin, who helped St Annes to the Northern Premier League title, added: "You have to ask the question: Where will Lancashire be in five years' time?

"They aren't a young side and they need to put the younger players into the side at the start of the season when it means something.

"They shouldn't just stick with the tried and tested players. Dominic Cork can't go on forever and how long have the likes of Stuart Law, Mal Loye and Glen Chapple got left?

"Three of them won't be around in five years so they have to start bringing some of the younger players in."

LANCASHIRE chairman Jack Simmons has laid down the gauntlet to some of the county's rising stars to make their mark in the first team next season.

Although the Old Trafford side bounced back to the top flight of county cricket at the first time of asking, Simmons said inconsistency - especially in the batting - had made it a disappointing season in some respects.

And he challenged the club's young players to turn their potential into performances and cement their place in the first team.

He said: "I think it's been a reasonable season. In terms of the promotion I guess you can say it has been successful but our one-day form has been poor.

"If you look at our batting line-up you'd back them to beat anybody but if you look at the bonus points in the county championship there's only two teams with less batting points than us. That needs to improve. But in bowling terms, nobody has more bonus points in the division than us.

"We've been able to blood a few youngsters and overall they've done quite well. But that's what Mike Watkinson and the rest of the coaching staff are aiming for - a mixture of youth and experience in the first team squad.

"We want the young players to be challenging the established players. We hoped the likes of Saj Mahmood and Kyle Hogg would have made more of an impact in the first team. Saj was in the academy side but has been out of the squad in the last 12 months. That should tell him that he has the ability but he has to try to be more consistent in county cricket.

"I believe that Andrew Flintoff became the player he is today from the confidence he got playing for us in county cricket after recovering from his shoulder injury in 2002. He made three hundreds in five games. He didn't bowl but it gave him tremendous confidence and made him think he could over-power people in county cricket and after that he went to South Africa and did a great job.

"Saj has to do that and if he can then maybe in two years he can be competing for a place in the England squad.