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Lancashire were on the brink of their second consecutive Championship victory at Blackpool today. And for once, Muttiah Muralitharan was not the man to thank.

The little Sri Lankan had a quiet day by his standards, picking up only one of Glamorgan's four remaining first innings wickets and two more when they followed on.

Instead it was 20-year-old leg spinner Chris Schofield who did the damage, claiming career best figures of four for 55 before lunch then adding two more crucial wickets late in the day.

Young Glamorgan batsmen Mike Powell and Wayne Law had frustrated Lancashire with a fourth wicket stand of 161, with Murali suffering the rare experience of going 25 overs without a wicket.

But in the space of three overs, Schofield had Powell caught at slip by Neil Fairbrother for 96, then Law snapped up off bat and pad by Andy Flintoff for 53. And with Murali breaking his drought with the wicket of Ismail Dawood, a fifth silly point victim for Flintoff, Glamorgan resumed today with only four wickets remaining and still 39 runs behind.

Skipper John Crawley paid tribute to Schofield, who was recalled for his first Championship appearance since early May. ``There had been a bit of a selection poser, but we felt that we needed a particular type of spinner on this pitch,'' he said.

``I don't think I've seen him bowl better than that and it was the perfect combination with Murali. Schoey went back into the second team for a while and it did his confidence a lot of good.''

Ian Austin also did his bit for Lancashire, breaking the spinners' monopoly on wickets by sending back Glamorgan openers Adrian Dale and Steve James after they had followed on 274 runs behind.

Dale had completed a gutsy 112 in the first innings before becoming Murali's last victim. He ended with six for 104, not bad by anyone else's standards, and with his two second innings wickets later, now has 45 for the season.