Martin's century inspires Lancashire

Lancashire 598 Warwickshire 38-1

After their joust with the possibility of relegation last year, Lancashire are ending this season feeling much more chipper. Victory here would give them three wins in a row and a chance of squeezing into second place in the Championship.

Around Old Trafford, too often a gloomy place lately even on days much brighter than yesterday, there is optimism founded on genuine substance.

The emergence of Kyle Hogg and James Anderson, two of the country's best seam bowling prospects, to ease the burden on Glen Chapple and Peter Martin, equips Lancashire with arguably the most potent pace attack in county cricket, giving real depth to a line-up to which the Indian spinner, Harbhajan Singh, will be added next April, along with one or even two new batsmen.

The retirement announced yesterday of Neil Fairbrother, a symbol of past glories, is therefore a little easier to bear. "Harvey", who will be 39 next Monday, played in 10 domestic one-day finals, winning seven, in a career spanning 21 seasons, as well as amassing close to 21,000 first-class runs, but has been forced finally to concede to the march of time.

"I always said I would continue playing while I was enjoying my cricket and maintaining a standard I found acceptable," he said. "Unfortunately, performances this season have fallen short of the standards I set myself." Fairbrother, who also played 75 one-day internationals and 10 Tests, will make his last appearance at Old Trafford on Sunday, in the National League match against Northamptonshire. It would be fitting if the side could enjoy as profitable a day as yesterday, when they effectively batted Warwickshire out of the game.

Resuming at 352 for 6, Lancashire further punished Warwickshire's careless fielding by adding 246, thanks largely to the splendid batting of Chris Schofield and Martin, who combined in a partnership of 109 for the ninth wicket before Martin completed the second first-class hundred of his career and compiled the highest score by a No 10 batsman in the county's history.

Schofield, put down by Dominic Ostler at slip off Neil Carter on 41, was nine away from his maiden century when leg before to Mark Wagh.

Martin, spilled by Carter on the boundary as he hooked Dougie Brown on 23, finished unbeaten on 117 off 121 balls, adding to Brown's woes by hitting the all-rounder for four sixes in a tally of half a dozen.

Warwickshire's bowlers might not have enjoyed the best of luck, but seven dropped catches tells its own story.

Missing the injured Nick Knight, the visitors soon lost Wagh to a superb ball from Chapple, which was not the start needed with 449 needed merely to avoid the follow-on. Bad light and then rain combined to deny them the final session and more in which to repair the damage.

* Ed Smith hit his second County Championship century of the season as Kent fought back strongly on the second day of the First Division match at Taunton yesterday. Smith was unbeaten on 115 at the close, having hit 11 boundaries in a 234-ball innings. Paul Nixon, with 79 not out, shared an unbroken stand of 162 for the fourth wicket as the visitors reached 300 for 3 in reply to relegation-threatened Somerset's total of 460.