
London, June 24: Indian captain Saurav Ganguly, with yet another all-round performance, led the defending champions Lancashire to a 24-run victory over Northamtonshire at Old Trafford.
Ganguly captured three wickets for 22 runs as Lancashire restricted Northamptonshire to 178 in 41 overs.
In reply Lancashire knocked off 118 for three off 25.5 overs when rain halted play.
By then Lancashire were comfortably ahead of the required rate with Ganguly Neil Fairbrother reamining unbeaten on 47 and 13 respectively.
This is the fifth consecutive defeat for Northamptonshire.
A fair-sized crowd of 5,000 huddled deep in coats and scarves were treated to fireworks and pop music at every break in play. They took pleasure, however, in a beautiful innings from Mike Atherton 43 and Ganguly. The two put on 73 runs for the opening partnership.