Flintoff Steps Up His Bowling Paces After First-ball Rush of Blood With Bat

Andrew Flintoff came within a whisker of another golden duck yesterday but he will have taken some consolation from the strenuous 20-minute bowling session he had after the game under the watchful eye of the Lancashire physiotherapist Sam Byrne. Coming off his full run, the England all-rounder worked his way up to around three-quarters of his top pace and, with Byrne putting him through a series of complicated stretches between "overs", he came through without any obvious problems.

When a player with a profile as high as Flintoff's comes to the crease at an away ground with three golden ducks to his name he can expect a ribbing and a crowd of nearly 9,000 did not hold back yesterday. A crescendo of noise accompanied the spinner Rob Ferley on his approach to the wicket and Flintoff, judging by his reaction, was unnerved. Having attempted to swipe the delivery over the new stand, missed and been perilously close to leg-before, the England all-rounder took it into his head to charge off down the wicket before being brought to his senses by a shout of warning from his partner Francois Du Plessis. Turning, he dived back towards his crease but was still in mid-air when Chris Cairns' throw missed narrowly. How Flintoff had not made it four first-ballers this season only heaven knows.

Nor did he hang around much longer, though there was time for one beautifully hit straight drive for four off Samit Patel before he stepped down the wicket, missed another huge blow at Ferley and was bowled for 13, off nine balls. By then, however, Lancashire were pretty much home and hosed.

There had been times during the Notts innings that the crowd had voiced its displeasure at the scoring rate but, having already played on this wicket, a slow, low turner, the Outlaws were aware that anything around 150 should be competitive. For a long time it looked as though they were going to fall short, mainly because every time they started to get some momentum they lost a wicket.

A Glen Chapple slower ball cleaned up Will Jefferson but Patel timed the ball beautifully and, with Adam Voges, added 57 for the second wicket before attempting to sweep the leg-spinner Simon Marshall from outside off-stump and edging a catch behind. Voges went on to his half-century but then pulled a Du Plessis long-hop into Flintoff's safe hands at deep midwicket and, with the gusting wind making any catch difficult, he held on to another tester to get rid of the dangerous Andre Adams off Marshall, who finished with figures of three for 27 from his four overs.

Despite losing Lou Vincent, brilliantly stumped by Chris Read off a Mark Ealham yorker that went through the batsman's legs, Mal Loye ensured the Lightning innings got off to the necessary quick start. Du Plessis and Stuart Law kept them ahead of the required rate but Law's dismissal, leg-before hitting across the line at Adams, prompted a wobble.

Kyle Hogg followed in the same over, deservedly bowled after missing an ugly attempted smear over midwicket, but Flintoff's cameo was just long enough for Du Plessis to steer Lancashire to within sight of victory and Steven Croft did the rest. After three consecutive defeats Lancashire's celebrations were heartfelt. The win keeps them in the hunt in a division that looks likely to go down to the last round of games. Flintoff's schedule for the coming week, Lancashire said, had yet to be determined.