Lancashire v Middlesex: ENGLAND hero Andrew Strauss was not in the Middlesex side to face Lancashire in the Frizzell County Championship at Old Trafford.

The opener was forced to sit out the crucial game between the second and third placed Division One sides, after his man-of-the-match performance at Lord's.

Owais Shah took over the captaincy of a Middlesex side packed with talented players who were ready to push Lancashire all the way in the four-day match.

The bowling attack was set to test the Red Rose top order, Chad Keegan having already taken a five-wicket haul against them this season.

That previous meeting between these two sides was marred by some poor weather but still produced a seven-wicket haul for Dominic Cork and centuries for Mal Loye and Mark Chilton.

Loye showed he was fully recovered from his back spasms with 42 in the win over Glamorgan on Sunday. Lancashire are also boosted by the availability of James Anderson.

Kyle Hogg was the unlucky man to make way as Mike Watkinson rotated his bowling attack to keep them fresh.

Anderson, Glen Chapple, Dominic Cork and Sajid Mahmood were set to shoulder the pace-bowling burden, while Warren Hegg returned behind the stumps at Jamie Haynes' expense.

Iain Sutcliffe, Mal Loye, Stuart Law and Carl Hooper returned at the top of the order and, although Alec Swann retained his place in the squad, he was not expected to feature.

Seamer Peter Martin was Lancashire's sole absentee, facing a fortnight on the sidelines following a minor knee operation.

Both sides went into the match this morning knowing that they could jump to the top of the table by the end of the week if Kent slip up in their match against Surrey.

The match is the start of a hectic period for Lancashire. This game is scheduled to run until Friday and they will then have to fly to Gatwick in order to reach Hove to play their C&G Trophy third round match in Saturday.