Staying down on one knee

Play has resumed.
Lancashire 150 for 4 (52 overs). Laxman 59, Croft 20.

Croft had an extended one-to-one net with Peter Moores this morning, scored the first 14 runs of the day and moved Lancashire ahead with a pulled four off Carter.

Dates have been finalised for four international matches at Edgbaston next season. Pakistan and Australia will meet in two Twenty20s there on Monday July 5 and Tuesday July 6, England will face Bangladesh in a one-day international on Monday July 12 and England will play Pakistan in the second npower Test starting on Friday August 6.

The domestic fixtures are now with the counties so that their objections to the most outrageously ludicrous travelling commitments (Taunton-Edinburgh-London) can be lodged and overruled.

One oddity. The final of the 40-over tournament will be held at Lord's on Saturday September 18 and be the last game of the county season, quite sensibly as it will be the domestic season's climax. But the semi-finals will be played just seven days earlier on Saturday September 11, giving counties just a few days to shift tickets and supporters a similarly short time to make plans.