Lord’s date will focus us again vows skipper Croft

STEVEN Croft says playing at Lord’s this week will provide his Lancashire players with the perfect pick-me-up after missing out on the Specsavers County Championship title.

Essex’s win over Warwickshire at Edgbaston last week coupled with the Red Rose’s defeat against Somerset at Taunton extinguished the club’s hopes of silverware, handing the Chelmsford side their first pennant since 1992.

Skipper Croft, however, insists Lancashire’s season is far from over ahead of matches against Middlesex, starting today, and against Surrey at Emirates Old Trafford next week.

“Hopefully we can have a good start to the game and secure that second spot,” said Croft.

“We want to finish as high as we can. We want to stay there and play some good cricket along the way.

“It’s our biggest goal. We wanted to improve on last year’s performance and position in the table (seventh and only 10 points above the relegation zone).

“This game couldn’t have come at a better time. Lord’s is the best place to play your cricket. That will turn us on to put in a good performance.”

Last week saw Croft return to the team after leaving himself out of the last three Championship matches.

“Coming back into the side felt a bit weird,” he added.

“I felt a bit stiff after the first couple of days having not played much for a few weeks.

“It would be nice to get some runs down there at Lord’s both personally and as a team.”