April 24 Wednesday 2002
Rule of Law begins at Old Trafford 

LONDON: Australian batsman Stuart Law proved his worth to Lancashire with an important 69 as his side scraped past Division One rivals Leicestershire by one wicket at Old Trafford on Monday. 

On the fourth and final day of the opening round of the English County Championship fixtures Law, who left Essex following a dressing room bust-up at the end of last season, batted for two hours and 20 minutes. 

However, in sight of a century, he followed a wide delivery from Vince Wells and was caught in the slips. Graham Lloyd, son of former Lancashire and England opener David, top-scored with 73 before debutant Kyle Hogg's 11 helped Lancashire reach their victory target of 388. 

Elsewhere, Surrey, champions in 1999 and 2000, confirmed their credentials with a crushing 10-wicket win over Sussex, last season's Division Two winners. England left-hander Mark Butcher, Surrey's captain while Adam Hollioake takes time out following the death of his brother Ben, made 68 not out as Surrey strolled to 116 without loss. 

At Canterbury, former Lancashire and England batsman John Crawley extended his debut Hampshire double century to 272, 14 short of his first-class best, before Robin Smith's side was bowled out for a mammoth 671. 

Kent had already made 577 for 7 declared and used what little time there was left to make 163 for 4 declared, the match ending in a predictable draw. The major winner was the pitch which yielded 1,411 runs for 19 wickets. 

New Zealand's Craig Spearman experienced the downside of championship competition at New Road in Worcester. The Gloucestershire batsman made 111 in his side's first innings, but could only manage 14 second time around. Worcestershire eventually bowled out the visitors for a meagre 154 and a thumping 206-run victory. 

Meanwhile at Cardiff, Glamorgan wicketkeeper Mark Wallace's maiden first-class century was not enough to prevent Derbyshire winning by 163 runs. Earlier, former Australia paceman Michael Kasprowicz added just four runs to his overnight 32, when he was bowled by England all-rounder and Derbyshire captain Dominic Cork. But the real damage was done by Derbyshire left-arm spinner Lian Wharton, who finished with career-best figures of 6 for 103. Wallace remained unbeaten on 106, but at 341 all out Glamorgan were well-short of their victory target of 505. 

Scores: 
First Division 
At Canterbury: Kent 577-7 decl (R Key 160, D Fulton 98, A Symonds 89, P Nixon 52, E Smith 52, M Patel 50*; C Tremlett 4-129) & 163-4 decl drew with Hampshire 671 (J Crawley 272, N Johnson 117). 

At Old Trafford: Leicestershire 385 (D Stevens 74, V Wells 74, M Bevan 66, P DeFreitas 51, N Burns 51) & 277 (D Maddy 66, N Burns 62; K Hogg 5-48) lost to Lancashire 275 (A Swann 80, G Lloyd 51; P DeFreitas 6-101) & 388-9 (G Lloyd 73, S Law 69, M Chilton 53) by one wkt. 

At The Oval: Surrey 575-8 decl (A Brown 177, N Shahid 150, A Stewart 99, M Ramprakash 56) & 116-0 (M Butcher 68*) bt Sussex 308 (M Yardy 93; A Tudor 4-84) & 379 (P Cottey 114, C Adams 114) by 10 wkts. 

Second Division 
At Cardiff: Derbyshire 217 (J Kerr 58; S Jones 6-45) & 462-6 decl (S Stubbings 128, D Hewson 102*, A Gait 80, M Di Venuto 62) bt Glamorgan 175 (A Dale 56; D Cork 6-51) & 341 (M Wallace 106*, S James 78; L Wharton 6-103) by 163 runs. 

At New Road: Worcestershire 333 (B Smith 129, D Leatherdale 55; J Lewis 6-77, I Harvey 4-85) & 295 (G Hick 92; J Lewis 6-54) bt Gloucestershire 268 (C Spearman 111, M Windows 60; A Bichel 9-93) & 154 (G Batty 3-33) by 206 runs.