Cricket: Saltires seek Old Trafford spark

The Scots head to their happiest hunting ground on the county circuit, having won on their last three visits.

But they go into their clash with Lancashire on the back of a seven-wicket drubbing by Durham on Sunday and still waiting to break their YB40 duck.

They hope to be inspired by the famous Test venue where they first triumphed in 2003 and again in 2007 and 2008.

They will bring back spin-king Majid Haq, the only survivor of the match ten years ago and who also claimed a match-winning 3-33 four years later.Haq, returning from a hamstring injury, was not risked in Sunday’s defeat but plays today along with ex-Warwickshire all-rounder Neil Carter who will make his first YB40 start.

Steindl said: “We erred on the side of caution with Maj on Sunday but he is fit and raring to go. Old Trafford is a fantastic ground with great facilities and we have a decent record there.

“Maj is probably the only guy who has played there before for us and hopefully he can be involved in another victory.”

Steindl is demanding a major improvement from Sunday’s horror show when the Saltires were dismissed for just 91 – their lowest total against a county in five years. The batsmen survived for only 23.3 overs of their scheduled 40 and Steindl admitted: “The players know it wasn’t good enough and we are looking for the right reaction.

“We had a long chat after the Durham game and we know the things we have to put right. We have been building some decent totals in the YB40 this season, but we didn’t approach our innings in the right manner.

“Maybe the break for last week’s four-day game [against Australia A] affected the players but we have to get back to doing the right things for this format of the game.”

Under-19 all-rounder Ruaidhri Smith may make way for Carter after a difficult debut at Durham while Haq will come in for Gordon Drummond.