It was quality swing, not poor pitch says Simpson

Lancashire have escaped censure for producing a poor pitch. Although the ECB panel agreed that the surface was below average quality, they stopped short of imposing a penalty of between 8 and 20 points. That's good news for Lancashire who can scarcely afford even the slightest slip up, with Surrey being just a point from the championship.

The panel were called in after the first day of the championship match saw a Somerset side with an excellent batting record blown away for a paltry 132. The news came as a relief to Lancashire coach Bobby Simpson, who felt the low score was due to high quality swing bowling.

"Jamie Cox was saying to me that after half an hour they were delighted to be batting, but then the ball started swinging. He admitted it - that is what undid them. I've been saying for years that if you get a good swing bowler they'll wreak havoc because players are not used to it," the ex Australia coach insisted.

"We've had high marks all year. I said to Pete Marron, our groundsman, at the start of the season to prepare the best possible wickets he could. I won't have anything to do with fiddling the wicket. As far as I'm concerned that's a form of cheating."

The Lancashire batsmen went some way to proving that the pitch wasn't too bad by amassing 463 - 9 declared in their only innings as they crushed Somerset by an innings. The result leaves Lancashire 11 points ahead of third placed Yorkshire, and favourites to collect the lucrative runners up prize money.