Keedy forgetting about England

Gary Keedy has stopped thinking about his chances of an England call-up despite another impressive show in a domestic season. He was instrumental in sending Lancashire top of the Championship with a six-wicket haul at Edgbaston, but has put any thoughts of following his team-mates, Andrew Flintoff, Sajid Mahmood and Glen Chapple, into the national set-up out of his mind.

"Over the last couple of years I have put myself under so much pressure and it doesn't work," he said after Lancashire's seven-wicket win. "I'm just enjoying my cricket with Lancashire and it's nice to see us doing well. Anything else that comes my way I will see as a nice little bonus. I'll just keep taking wickets and see how it goes."

His haul was just one part of a highly efficient Lancashire display as their fine season continues. Keedy added: "It was a good all round performance from everybody. Dominic [Cork] started it off in the first innings with six wickets and bowled really well, the pitch suited him at that stage, then for the lads to go out and score 300 was a great effort on that wicket.

"We were slightly worried about batting second but Stuart Law played magnificently, then in the second innings we stuck to our task - they were in a good position at one stage - and knew that if we dug in the wickets would come and the one of Nick Knight was the turning point of the game."

For half of the third day Warwickshire were fighting back and would still have had fresh memories of their back-from-the-brink win against Durham last week. However, Keedy said Lancashire never worried. "We didn't get carried away when the wickets didn't come straight away, we had plans and we made sure we used them. It was important to keep it tight and when the first one came the rest followed."

While Keedy took the major honours with his six-for, the surprise package came from Brad Hodge who claimed a Championship-best three-wicket haul, including the scalp of Nick Knight. But Keedy admitted he had not been part of the main plan for the day.

"I think the wicket got slightly better if anything and we'd expected the seamers to do more damage early on so we brought Brad on as just another option and in worked for us. Personally I struggled with my rhythm, just a slight technical thing, and I'm going to go away and work on that. But I found a suitable pace for that wicket and made the most of it."

The season is now approaching the half-way mark and Lancashire are one win away from a Lord's final in the C&G and top of the Championship. "The important thing is that there are performances coming from everybody rather than just the same old faces," stressed Keedy. "The likes of Tom [Smith] and Oliver [Newby] have come in and been superb. We don't carry any passengers in our team. The momentum is with us and if we keep playing the cricket we are at the moment we will be successful."