Ashley Giles's disclosure at a Lancashire members forum that Andrew Flintoff is unlikely to play any cricket for Lancashire this season should surprise no one

The matter that will have troubled Lancastrians above all, perhaps, is who would take the wickets or bowl the spells that have been Glen Chapple's responsibility for nigh on two decades

Lancashire will be grateful Ashwell Prince decided to extend his career as his hundred guided them against Kent while others gave their wickets away

A match that had been made particularly memorable by a trio of contrasting centurions on its first three days was saved by a collective display of grit from Nottinghamshire's middle order on the final afternoon

A maiden century of high class by Jack Leaning had helped Yorkshire carve out a first-innings lead before three late wickets left Nottinghamshire in a tricky position

Alex Lees scored a century to get Yorkshire's reply off to a solid start but his dismissal late in the day led to some self-recrimination

On the day when cricket writers hightailed it to Cardiff, Nottinghamshire's Alex Hales made a persuasive case that those scribes would have been better advised motoring up the M1

Having conceded a first-innings lead of four runs and handicapped by the absence of Ryan Sidebottom with a calf injury, Yorkshire's seamers performed as well as ever they did in their title-winning summer

Yorkshire's batsmen, led by skipper Alex Lees and Tim Bresnan, battled hard and successfully to all but match Worcestershire's very decent first-innings 311

As England's batsmen struggled in the West Indies, Dickie Bird has railed strongly against the policy of selecting players for an England tour, only to leave them wearing bibs and ferrying drinks while their county plays important Championship matches

Yorkshire began their defence of the title at Worcester and were repelled by a composed hundred by Tom Fell

The side's new coach is taking his time with the major decisions - captaincy, overseas signings, Glen Chapple's role - as he seeks to bring the team back to winning ways

At the end of a day marked not by a frenetic run-chase but by the sort of determined batting specifically designed to prevent such dramas, the players shook hands on the draw at 4.21pm at Old Trafford

With one heroic blow, Lancashire's captain Glen Chapple took their relegation fight against Middlesex into a final day

Like mariners clinging to wreckage in the hope of eventual rescue, Lancashire's cricketers hoped to confound the logic of experience on the second day of this game

Whether from tension, disbelief or joy, some Worcestershire members gathered under the Graeme Hick pavilion on Friday afternoon had tears on their cheeks

They will call it "Shantry's Match" and men reading about it will think themselves accursed they were not there

This is both a cricket match and a poignant reunion. Four Surrey players once sported the pears sable on their shirts

This is the season of bounteous abundance yet Worcestershire's players may feel they have been altogether too generous of late

Yorkshire now have a 26-point lead at the top of Division One after an innings win against Lancashire and can seal the Championship next week at Trent Bridge