Warne sidelined by fractured rib

County Championship Division One, Old Trafford, day four: Lancashire 403-8d drew with Hampshire 393 & 112-2d
Lancashire 8 pts, Hampshire 6

Hampshire will be without Shane Warne for at least three weeks after he fractured a rib in their drawn County Championship match against Lancashire.

An MRI scan revealed the injury after the captain and veteran leg-spinner pulled up while bowling on Thursday.

Michael Carberry hit 66 not out as Hampshire made 112-2 in their second innings before a draw was agreed.

Earlier, the hosts declared on 403-8, Luke Sutton 100 not out, as they strove to put pressure on their visitors.

Interview: Hampshire physio Andrew Nealon

Hampshire physio Andrew Nealon confirmed that Warne would be out for at least three weeks, and it is touch and go whether he will play again this summer.

"Shane's played with many injuries over a long career, and if anybody can possibly play through the pain it's him," Nealon told BBC 5 Live.

"The rest of our season is a pretty congested calendar. We have got four games to go and if it is humanly possible then he will be on the field before the end of the season. We will be doing all that we can to help that process."

The loss of their talismanic captain is a bad blow for the title hopes of Hampshire, who have not won the County Championship since 1973.

But first team manager Paul Terry added: "It is not good timing in a pretty exciting run-in to the end of the season. We'll evaluate the injury next week and see where we at with that.

"He is a pretty good healer and I would be surprised if we didn't see him again this season. He is always optimistic."

With Warne absent on the final day, former Lancashire skipper John Crawley took over the captaincy duties.

He saw pace bowler David Griffiths take three of the four wickets to fall as Lancashire moved on from their overnight score of 296-4 to declare at lunch.

When Glen Chapple had Michael Brown caught down the leg side and Muttiah Muralitharan had James Adams caught at slip the hosts scented an unlikely victory.

But Carberry settled Hampshire's nerves with a steady innings to ensure the draw.

Source: BBC Sport