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Mike Smethurst, the surprise hero of Lancashire's NatWest Trophy victory over Hampshire two weeks ago, was left out of the championship rematch in Southampton today.

The 22-year-old from Oldham has been squeezed out by the return of Glen Chapple and Peter Martin, who both missed the victory over Glamorgan at Blackpool last week - Chapple with his wrist injury and Martin because of a family bereavement.

Spinners Gary Keedy, Mike Watkinson and Gary Yates also missed out again. Skipper John Crawley was hoping that Lancashire could continue the revival which began with that NatWest tie at Southampton, when Smethurst hit the winning boundary to snatch a dramatic one wicket win after earlier taking four wickets.

``We seem to have turned the corner and we have been playing much better in the last month,'' Crawley added. ``Possibly the win at Southampton in the NatWest sparked it all off. ``Sometimes there is a key moment that sends you on your way. But we still have a lot of work to do.''

Lancashire have climbed from the bottom three to joint 12th with consecutive championship wins over Essex and Glamorgan, and a third victory over Hampshire could take them into the all important top nine.

But Hampshire have been the surprise achievers all season under skipper Robin Smith, and despite losing to Surrey at Guildford last week, they are still on the fringe of the title race.

The game was originally scheduled for the United Services ground in Portsmouth but has been switched to Southampton because of problems with the pitch. It will be Lancashire's last championship visit to the Northlands Road ground because Hampshire are moving to a new purpose built site at the end of next season.

Worcestershire moved joint top of the CGU National League First Division with Yorkshire last night, both four points clear of Lancashire, after a tense two run victory over Leicestershire in the first ever floodlit game at New Road.