LANCASHIRE face the first of their crunch County Championship matches as they take on Kent at Old Trafford, starting on Tuesday.

The team must start winning if they want to pull themselves out of relegation trouble, a position the visitors also find themselves struggling with.

But coach Mike Watkinson is in a positive frame of mind: "We only need to win a game and things look much better. The lads are confident of getting out of trouble in the four games left."

Jimmy Anderson has been told to rest by Duncan Fletcher ahead of the Natwest Challenge and Champions Trophy so is unavailable while Kent have been boosted by the return of Robert Key, although Geraint Jones does not play.

Michael Bevan is also missing with a hip injury, having come in as replacement for Andrew Symonds, but he had been struggling for runs while the pace attack is depleted with the absence of Martin Saggers.

Lancashire will decide just before the start of play whether to include Stuart Law or continue with Dinesh Mongia in the middle order.

Experienced seamer Peter Martin looked in good rhythm during the totesport League match against Glamorgan as his knee was put through its paces.

What Lancashire do need is some good weather. During last week, while the Red Rose side were not in action, other teams were notching up some important points.

And rain affected draws are not going to be much use to them in their current situation. If the game is severely interrupted they may need to try positive declarations in order to engineer a result.