Lancashire: Skipper Akram in fitness fight (29 May 1998)

29 May 1998

Skipper Akram in fitness fight

Lancashire Evening Telegraph

WASIM Akram is fighting to be fit for Lancashire's next Championship Challenge.

The break in the fixture list could not have come at a better time for the Red Rose skipper, as he tries to overcome the muscle strain which has affected him all week.

"I had to take a couple of painkilling injections to play in the game at Surrey, and they got me through fine," he explained. "But hopefully now I can give it some rest and there will be no problems for next week."

Lancashire have a five-day break before getting the chance to make up for yesterday's Benson and Hedges Cup disappointment, when they were dumped out at the quarter-final stage by holders Surrey.

Dav Whatmore's men face Northamptonshire hoping to catapult themselves into the top six - but they will probably have to do it without in-form batsman Mike Atherton.

The former national team captain has come good at just the right time with 70 against Essex and a Gold Award-winning 93 at The Oval and, with the selectors meeting tomorrow to decide the England squad for the First Test with South Africa at Edgbaston, it would be a major shock if Atherton's name was omitted.

John Crawley, Lancashire's other realistic Test hope, could be overlooked again, and will have to produce, as he puts it, a "stack more of runs" at county level.

Source :: Lancashire Evening Telegraph (https://www.reednews.co.uk/let/)