Date-stamped : 22 Jun97 - 14:20 By Stephen Thorpe at Liverpool First day of four: Glamorgan 173-1 v Lancashire TRYING times for Lancashire, as Glamorgan erased the memory of their nadir against Middlesex after a workmanlike return to real- ity. Lancashire have now employed 23 players in seven champi- onship matches; Jason Gallian, Mike Watkinson and Wasim Akram are injured, Mike Atherton and John Crawley required elsewhere. The mood was infectious, umpire Allan Jones`s damaged back neces- sitating the arrival of Vanburn Holder from a second XI match at Middleton in the morning. Glamorgan were understandably cau- tious after the Cardiff debacle, and no doubt mindful of their lowest score, 22 on this very ground 73 years ago, but Matthew Maynard`s decision to bat on a hard, good-paced track was correct. Steve James took full advantage, batting sensibly throughout the 50 overs of play with 17 fours in his undefeated 99. Hugh Morris, too, countered the significant bounce capably enough then, looking to glance Ian Austin to fine leg, managed only a nick which War- ren Hegg snatched one-handed, low to his right. Neil Fairbrother, Lancashire`s fourth captain this summer, used all six bowlers before lunch, with Peter Martin and Glen Chapple encouraged by a regular suggestion of swing. Austin de- cided he could bounce out James, a grave error of judgment, as the opener eased to the brink of his third championship centu- ry of the season be- fore the rains came. Source :: The Electronic Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/) Lancashire humiliated by unplayable Waqar By Stephen Thorpe at Liverpool Glamorgan beat Lancashire RARELY can a championship match have seen such an extraordi- nary turn of events. Lancashire, chasing a contrived target of 273 in a minimum 60 overs, were shattered by a career-best seven for 25, in- cluding a hat-trick, from Glamorgan`s Pakistani fast bowler Waqar You- nis, and were bowled out for 51 inside 14 overs. It was all over in 70 minutes, and poor Lancashire were proba- bly grateful for a quick end. And to think that just last week Glamorgan were on the receiving end of a similar humiliation, dismissed for 31 by Middlesex. The captains had agreed on a target and double forfeiture when play finally began almost three days after the initial stoppage for rain on Wednesday. Nathan Wood and Graham Lloyd delivered nine overs, during which Steve James reached his third cham- pionship hundred of the season, and Adrian Dale progressed to 78 not out. Joke bowling would be too kind a term as 99 runs were added to set up the decla- ration. Waqar bowled with unbridled pace, fire and rhythm. As his cap- tain, Matthew Maynard, affirmed: "Some of his deliveries would have defeated any batsman in the world." Waqar himself did not even realise he was on a hat-trick, but was convinced he had one earlier. He roared in with a vengeance from the Mersey end, left-hander Wood shuffling across a wicked late in- swinger, then Glen Chap- ple lost his middle stump first ball. Acting captain Neil Fair- brother, bat- ting with a runner after suffering a thigh strain, survived the hat- trick ball by the grace of God and umpire Vanburn Holder, but later saw Steve Titchard trapped lbw. Fairbrother, however, was immediately undone by an unplayable ball from Steve Watkin and when Lloyd nicked another outswinger from Waqar, Lancashire were in total disarray. Mark Chilton, another of the Manchester Grammar School produc- tion-line, by way of Durham University, was making his first- class debut, and could not have had a stiffer examina- tion on a pitch still hard and bouncy, and affording extravagant move- ment. Chilton, 20, tall and upright, has drawn much from the tute- lage of Graeme Fowler at Durham, but soon edged a lifter down the leg side to wicketkeeper Adrian Shaw. Ian Austin responded to the crisis in the way he knows best, em- ploying the long handle, but Waqar had other ideas, completing an as- tonishing split hat-trick, uprooting the off stumps of Warren Hegg and Gary Yates with unplayable deliveries. Watkin claimed the last two wickets, Waqar fittingly catching Gary Keedy at slip to finish off Lancashire, who remain very much between a rock and a hard place. Source :: The Electronic Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/) Contributed by The Management (help@cricinfo.com)