Date-stamped : 09 Jun97 - 06:16 Lancs leave West Country in despair By Charles Randall at Taunton Somerset (107-5) bt Lancs (141-8) by 5 wkts LANCASHIRE lost their unblemished Sunday League record yester- day, to round off a thoroughly inauspicious stay in the Quan- tocks, af- ter their championship mauling by Somerset two days previously. As in the championship game, which lasted only five sessions, Lancashire`s batting looked strangely ill-at-ease, and Somer- set won deservedly on run-rate, a notional five-wicket margin with one over to spare, after the target had twice been adjusted for rain. Somerset, on this sort of form, would be hard to beat, but their poor start to the league could be difficult to redeem after defeats by Surrey, Yorkshire and Worcestershire. Lancashire, who travelled by coach to Somerset, had to spend two whole days kicking their heels, with time to ponder a dire batting performance in their seven-wicket championship defeat, during which Jason Gallian cracked a bone in his left hand. Mike Watkinson`s players had a net at the County Ground, and played football on the outfield on Friday morning, and spent most of Saturday doing little except watch the Test match on tele- vision at their hotel. Watkinson, though, took the chance to visit Stonehenge. Lancashire had a chance to regain some confidence by extending their five-out-of-five-win sequence, but their voluble travel- ling supporters had almost nothing to cheer, except England`s success at Edg- baston. Watkinson decided to bat first, but Graham Rose caused problem with his movement, in the air and off the seam, his eight overs in two spells costing only 15 runs for three wickets. In his third over, he trapped Paddy McKeown lbw, and had Gra- ham Lloyd caught behind second ball, the England batsman un- certain whether to play or leave. Lloyd departed gloomily after a miserable time at the crease during his visit to Taunton, having survived a total of eight balls in his two championship innings. To say he looked out of sorts would be an understatement. The collection among the crowd of about 3,000 for Rose`s Bene- fit Fund produced -L1,685, a very high figure per head for this type of whip-round. Darren Shadford, a seam bowler with an unusual windmill ac- tion, and a fast arm, took his first Sunday wicket in his second league game for Lancashire, when Peter Bowler clipped him to midwicket. His maiden victim in first-class cricket had been Gra- ham Gooch two years ago, with the second ball of his debut. Rob Turner, Somerset`s batsman-wicketkeeper, with a growing repu- tation, produced another quickfire innings, his 42 taking only 32 balls against testing bowling. Source :: The Electronic Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/) Contributed by The Management (help@cricinfo.com)