An unbeaten century by J P Crawely and his unbroken 89-run fourth wicket partnership with Indian captain Saurav Ganguly (42 not out) enabled Lancashire to score 334 for three in reply to Leicestershire’s first innings total of 372 in English county championship match. Anil Kumble toiled for 19 overs before taking a wicket on the second day on Wednesday and Crawley's wristy elegance was the main reason for his lack of sucess. Wonderfully fluent of his legs, Crawely hit 17 fours and shared in partnerships of 97 with Michael Atherton for the second wicket and 89 for the third with Andrew Flintoff.
Dismissing everyone execpt Kumble with effortless ease, Flintoff made quickest fifty of the match when a firm forward push at Kumble resulted in a bat-pad catch to silly mid-off. It was just the sort of dismissal to spark memories of England collapse on the sub-continent. However, there was no collapse of the Lancashire innings as the batsman who strolled out at no 5 is one of the best batsmen in India, if not the world, The Times commentator wrote in praise of Ganguly.

Saurav Ganguly has not been an unalloyed success as Lancashire's overseas player, but he knows Kumble's clever variation of pace inside out. In the final phase of an interesting day he joined Crawley in a third susbstantial partnership that has given Lancahire an adequate insurance against having to bat fourth on surfaces gradually getting dustier, the commentators said.
Bureau Report