1999 Lancashire prospects: Chance for young players to shine (13 May 1999)
Lancashire embark on the 1999 season, knowing that they will lose Fairbrother, Flintoff and Austin on World Cup duty and hoping that Atherton will quickly recover from the back problem which has prevented him joining them in World Cup action
13-May-1999
13 May 1999
1999 Lancashire prospects: Chance for young players to shine
League Cricket Review
Lancashire embark on the 1999 season, knowing that they will lose
Fairbrother, Flintoff and Austin on World Cup duty and hoping
that Atherton will quickly recover from the back problem which
has prevented him joining them in World Cup action. But it
provides an excellent chance for the younger members of the
Lancashire squad to prove themselves. Mark Chilton has already
made the earliest ever century in English first-class cricket in
the match at Fenner's and scored a fine 87 against Sussex. He
looks likely to make a big impact in his first full season at Old
Trafford. Mike Smethurst, the tall 22 year old paceman from
Middleton in the Central Lancashire League, has started his first
year on the staff with a bang, taking six wickets at Cambridge
and forcing his way into the first championship game. Chris
Schofield from Littleborough, another former CLL player, has
taken wickets even if conditions have not been favourable to
leg-breaks early on and has scored useful runs. Paddy McKeown
twice beat his best first-class score at Cambridge. If the county
can make a reasonable start while the stars are missing, there
seems no reason why, when the strongest squad is available,
including the magical Muralitharan, they cannot go on to win more
trophies under their new skipper, John Crawley.
Source:: League Cricket Review
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