MUTTIAH Muralitharan returned to the Old Trafford nets today - but Lancashire have already proved that they are not a one-man team.

With Murali still on his way from Sharjah, John Crawley's men completed a crushing innings victory over Somerset at Taunton yesterday to go straight to the top of the first Championship table.

Peter Martin and Andy Flintoff each picked up two of the four remaining Somerset wickets to send Lancashire into tomorrow's early-season showdown with champions Surrey in good heart.

Martin, Flintoff, Mike Smethurst and Glen Chapple have all got amongst the wickets, and most of the batsmen spent a reasonable amount of time at the crease although only Mark Chilton, with a half century, and Neil Fairbrother, with his brilliant match-winning 179 not out, really cashed in.

Crawley said last week that Lancashire were looking to improve on their recent poor record against Surrey to establish their title credentials this summer, and added yesterday at Taunton: "What a great way to start the season.

"It wasn't perfect, there were one or two aspects that are still below par, but 19 points from our first game was brilliant."

Coach Bob Simpson added: "We wanted a result from our first game but it wasn't just the win, it was the way we achieved it.

"The side was so full of enthusiasm and everything that we had worked on pre-season paid dividends, particularly the bowling and the slip catching."

In contrast Surrey suffered a washout against Kent at the Oval, although their batsmen looked in good form as they made 473 in reply to Kent's 456 for eight on Sunday, with a century for their new signing from Middlesex, Mark Ramprakash.

And thanks to the points system in the County Championship, they still picked up 11 points.

Crawley is aware that Lancashire went into their first meeting with Surrey last season, at the Oval, in good form, but things then went badly wrong as they were all out for 120 in the first innings and 145 in the second, and went down to an 18-3 defeat.

But Saqlain Mushtaq, who did a lot of the damage, is not available for Surrey until later in the summer with Pakistan preparing for their tour of England.

And Lancashire have Mike Atherton back - which at least means that Chapple will not have to open the batting, as he did at the Oval - as well as a certain Sri Lankan.