LANCASHIRE were saved by the early evening bad weather as their LV= County Championship match against Northamptonshire finished in a draw at Emirates Old Trafford yesterday.

The Division Two leaders avoided their second defeat of the season by the skin of their teeth as, in pursuit of 414, they slipped to 202-7 during the latter stages of the fourth afternoon.

They had advanced to 206-7 in the 67th over when bad light stopped play just after 3.30pm. Rain arrived within minutes, and no further play was possible.

Lancashire claimed eleven points from the match and are now 12 clear of Surrey at the top of the table and, more importantly, 50 clear of third-placed Glamorgan.

Lancashire have played ten matches and Glamorgan eight. After hosting Essex here on Monday, the Red Rose’s next fixture is against the Welshmen at Colwyn Bay later this month.

Karl Brown top-scored yesterday with 82 off 168 balls, his fifth successive fifty at the top of the order.

Unfortunately, he missed out on a second career century for the second time in the match having hit 97 in the first innings. The Boltonian has now gone 91 Championship innings without a century.

Paul Horton also scored 65 off 110 balls, sharing 130 inside 37 for the first wicket with Brown either side of lunch.

It signalled Lancashire’s first century opening partnership since last August’s Division One win over Durham here, a run of 22 innings.

But they were two of four wickets to fall inside ten overs as the hosts’ outside chances of a victory disappeared, with seamer Olly Stone doing the bulk of the damage.

He squared Horton up and uprooted his off stump before trapping Alex Davies lbw and getting Ashwell Prince caught behind.

And when captain Steven Croft was trapped lbw by off-spinner Rob Keogh for a five-ball duck, despite the Northants players appealing for a catch in the slips, Lancashire were 147-4 in the 46th.

Brown was the victim of a stunning diving catch behind down the leg-side by Adam Rossington off Steven Crook, leaving the score at 179-5 in the 55th over, before James Faulkner was lbw offering no shot to Keogh with six runs added less than three overs later.

Arron Lilley followed, also lbw offering no shot to a straight one from left-arm spinner Graeme White - 202-7 in the 65th - but Lancashire survived.