CricInfo Home
News Home

NEWS FOCUS
Rsa in Pak
NZ in India
Zim in Aus

Domestic
Other Series

Dav Whatmore was to discover his future as Lancashire coach today.

The committee were due to meet at Old Trafford late this afternoon to decide when to release Whatmore to return to Sri Lanka.

Whatmore wants to stay for the rest of the season to help Lancashire in their bid to avoid relegation when the Championship splits into two divisions next year.

But a number of committee members are known to believe that Whatmore should be released immediately.

They are likely to win the debate, which would leave Lancashire needing a new coach for the rest of this crucial season.

Already the names of second team coach Peter Sleep and John Stanworth, the cricket development manager who steered Lancashire to a Lord's double when he took over from David Lloyd in 1996, have been thrown up.

But Lancashire must consider carefully the effect of any immediate change on Muttiah Muralitharan, who holds the key to their chances of avoiding relegation - and was attracted to Old Trafford by Whatmore.

Lancashire remain deep in trouble despite last week's victory over Essex.

Wins for Somerset, Derbyshire and Gloucestershire mean that they have only climbed to 15th, fourth from bottom, and are still 15 points behind ninth placed Sussex.

And two of the teams below them, Glamorgan and Northants, play their game in hand on Lancashire this weekend.

As captain John Crawley said: ``We need to get on a roll of victories.''

Lancashire's next game is against Glamorgan at Blackpool starting next Wednesday.