Ervine missing for Hampshire

All-rounder Sean Irvine is out of action for Hampshire as he nurses a hamstring strain

Hampshire will be missing all-rounder Sean Ervine for their LV= County Championship Division One clash with Lancashire at Liverpool.

The 26-year-old Zimbabwean suffered a hamstring strain in the heavy defeat to Nottinghamshire last week and will nurse the injury with a view to making a return when Hampshire’s Twenty20 Cup campaign resumes next week.

Veteran batsman John Crawley missed the defeat at the Rose Bowl after injuring his finger at Durham and the former England man will not have recovered in time to make the trip to face his old county.

County capatin Dimitri Mascarenhas has returned from England duty following their elimination from the ICC World Twenty20 and he is added to the squad, but Kevin Pietersen has not been made available and he will continue to nurse his Achilles injury ahead of next month’s Ashes.

Lancashire will hand a first start of the season to India batsman VVS Laxman following his arrival as their overseas player. Laxman replaces the departed South Africa batsman Ashwell Prince and will stay with the Red Rose county until the end of the season.

Laxman represented Lancashire for four weeks at the end of the 2007 summer and scored 541 runs in the LV= County Championship and NatWest Pro40.

Coach Peter Moores will be keen for him to add to steel to the batting line-up after Lancashire were dismissed for just 116 and 135 in the 138-run defeat at Durham last week.

Tom Smith will be unavailable after suffering a side strain before that loss at Chester-le-Street and he is ruled out of all cricket for the next four to six weeks.

Andrew Flintoff will continue his rehabilitation from his recent knee surgery and will play his second game after returning at Durham as he aims to get some precious miles under his belt ahead of the Ashes.

James Anderson will not feature after the ECB restricted his availability following England’s exit from the World Twenty20.