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John Crawley today admitted that Lancashire face a tough battle to avoid relegation to the County Championship's Second Division next season.

They went into today's game against Essex at Old Trafford languishing at 17th in the table, above only Durham with eight of their 17 matches played.

It means they have nine matches to make up the 19 points by which they currently trail ninth placed Kent - a task made even tougher by the new Championship point-scoring system which gives 12 points for a win and four for a draw.

``It's going to be very very hard work to get back into the top half of the table,'' said Crawley.

``Our batting hasn't gelled. We just haven't been getting enough runs.

``Bowlers win you matches but the batsmen have to put enough on the board to put you into a good position.

``We can't make any excuses. It has been very disappointing and we need to turn it into a winning streak.''

Essex are the sort of team that Lancashire simply must beat between now and the end of the season.

They are 10th in the table with 73 points -16 more than Lancashire, and having played a game less.

But Lancashire went into the game on the back of consecutive defeats by Warwickshire and Surrey, and again without Mike Atherton because of his back problems. The match brings together the leading bowler and batsman in the country.

Muttiah Muralitharan made his Old Trafford Championship debut at the top of the national bowling averages with 24 wickets at an average of just over 11, and Essex's Aussie opener Stuart Law heads the batting list with 779 runs at 77.9. Lancashire made a steady start today after winning the toss and electing to bat.

Openers Crawley and Mark Chilton reached 53 without loss from 18 overs.

Elsehwere, Shane Warne's return to one-day form has failed to guarantee him a recall to the Australian Test side.

Chairman of selectors Trevor Hohns said only time would tell if Warne would win back his Test spot despite acknowledging the leg-spinner's outstanding contribution to Australia's World Cup triumph in England.

Warne, who had struggled to reproduce his best form after shoulder surgery last year, has said he will consider his future after pointing out he was not the incumbent Test spinner.

Stuart MacGill was preferred to Warne for the final Test against the West Indies in April.

Australia's next Test is against Sri Lanka in Kandy on September 9 and Warne will have only a four-day tour match the previous week to convince selectors his shoulder can cope with the demands of the longer game.