STUART Law received his Lancashire cap at Old Trafford yesterday, but his day was ruined by his old county Essex.

They romped to a seven-wicket win, led by Ronnie Irani celebrating his England recall, to leave Lancashire almost certain to finish in the bottom four of the Norwich Union League for the second year running.

That means they will again have to play in the preliminary round of the C&G Trophy next season - after suffering a humiliating defeat by Essex in this year's competition at Chelmsford.

Irani's team have certainly taken revenge on Lancashire for signing Law, as this was their third crushing one-day win this season.

Lightning had won four of their last five matches but this was never a contest as they slumped to 55 for six after being put in by Irani, with Law the only batsmen to put up any sort of a fight as he again led the side with Warren Hegg deciding not to risk his injured finger.

The Australian finally received some support from Kyle Hogg, Peter Martin and Gary Keedy, but it was way too late and Lancashire's final total of 153 for nine way too small.

Sure enough Essex romped to victory with more than 10 overs to spare, Irani and Andy Flower easing them home just as they had at Ilford back in June.

Glen Chapple and Chris Schofield managed respectable figures but Gary Keedy was expensive as Flower launched him for two sixes.

It was a disappointing way for Law to mark the award of his county cap, after he passed 1,000 runs in the County Championship last week at Blackpool at an average of more than 50.

"It's hard to put your finger on what went wrong because we've been playing some solid cricket in this competition," reflected the acting captain.

"Being capped was a pleasant surprise but that was a very disappointing performance - and believe me, we're as disappointed as the fans."

One possible explanation was that Lancashire eased off after achieving their major goal of Championship safety in Blackpool - and they are now back in four-day action at Old Trafford against Warwickshire on Wednesday, with the chance to climb further up the First Division table.