CALLING Andrew Flintoff an allrounder hasn’t been easy to justify in recent times, but a first Championship half-century for almost a year for Lancashire, albeit in an abject 10-wicket defeat by Hampshire, suggested his batting confidence may be returning at just the right time.

Flintoff, whose name will be included in a 17-man Ashes training squad that will be announced by the England selectors tomorrow, looked a picture of solidity in moving from his overnight 36 to 54 before being wrongly given out caught off his shoulder from a Dimitri Mascarenhas bouncer.

“I’ve been coming in each morning working on a few things with [coach] Peter Moores, and probably for the first time for a long time things are starting to come pretty naturally again,” said Flintoff. “I’m seeing the ball well, moving my feet well, hitting the ball in the middle, so I can’t ask for any more than that.

“The bowling’s fine. I got overs under my belt at Durham last week, I got six wickets, and here, running in, the ball was coming out of my hand fine.

“With the injuries I’ve had, when I come back I’m confident I can run in and land it on a length, but batting I’ve been searching for form for a period of time now. I hit the ball nicely in the one-dayers against South Africa last summer. Then in the winter in the first Test, I was going all right, and then got injured again, and that resulted in a pair.

“But I’ve been working hard, I can’t do any more from a fitness point of view, and now I actually feel I’ve made a lot of headway. For the first time for a long time today and last night the batting felt natural again, the bat felt part of me rather than a real foreign body, so I’m pleased.”

Steve Harmison will be hoping that he is included in the training squad. After a poor tour in the Caribbean — he took four wickets at 36 each — Harmison lost his Test place to Durham teammate Graham Onions. But after a slow start this summer Harmison has hit a golden run of form, claiming 22 wickets in three championship matches alongside Onions, who has taken 25.

If England do not want select Harmison for the first Test on July 8 at Cardiff, where the pitch is likely to be more conducive to spin than pace, he might be chosen for the England Lions team, also named tomorrow, to see whether he can ruffle Australian feathers in their last warm-up match which starts at Worcester a week on Wednesday.

Assuming Flintoff is fit, Harmison will be competing for the last fast-bowling place with Onions and Ryan Sidebottom. Michael Vaughan looks certain to miss out after averaging only 21 in five first-class matches for Yorkshire and failing to pass 50.

Gloucestershire moved 22 points clear at the top of the second division with a nine-wicket win over Middlesex at Bristol. Resuming at 129 for five, the visitors at least passed their first-innings 153, but were dismissed for 233, setting Gloucestershire a 45-run target.

LV County Championship

First Division

Lancashire v Hampshire (Liverpool, final day of four): Hampshire (20pts) beat Lancashire (4) by ten wickets

Lancashire First Innings 208 (C T Tremlett 4-49)

Second Innings (overnight 144-2)
M B Loye lbw b Imran Tahir 55
P J Horton lbw b Tremlett 39
A Flintoff c Lumb b Mascarenhas 54
K W Hogg c Cork b Imran Tahir 16
V V S Laxman run out 1
F du Plessis c Adams b Imran Tahir 15
S J Croft c Adams b Imran Tahir 0
†L D Sutton c Benham b Tremlett 17
*G Chapple not out 34
S I Mahmood c Pothas b Imran Tahir 0
G Keedy c Cork b Imran Tahir 0
Extras (b 8, lb 1, nb 14) 23
Total (79.5 overs) 254

Fall: 1-83, 2-128, 3-176, 4-177, 5-181, 6-187, 7-204, 8-237, 9-238.
Bowling: Tremlett 11-3-35-2; Mascarenhas 16-2-43-1; Cork 8-1-17-0; Tahir 32.5-4-108-6; Tomlinson 9-2-32-0; Carberry 3-1-10-0.

Hampshire First Innings 345 (A D Mascarenhas 108, N Pothas 86)
Second Innings
M A Carberry not out 62
J H K Adams not out 46
Extras (b 10) 10
Total (no wkt, 23.1 overs) 118

Bowling: Chapple 5-1-19-0; Flintoff 3-1-12-0; Keedy 10-1-52-0; Mahmood 1-0-7-0; du Plessis 4.1-0-18-0. Umpires: T E Jesty and P Willey

Second Division
Gloucestershire v Middlesex (Bristol, third day of four): Gloucestershire (20pts) beat Middlesex (3) by nine wickets

Middlesex First Innings 153
Second Innings (o/nt 129-5)
A J Strauss b Lewis 0
N R D Compton b Lewis 17
O A Shah c Spearman b Banerjee 57
E J G Morgan lbw b Kirby 10
N J Dexter b Kirby 43
S T Finn b Kirby 1
†D C Nash run out 38
G K Berg c Snell b Lewis 8
*S D Udal c Snell b Ireland 27
C E W Silverwood not out 26
D A Burton lbw b Banerjee 0
Extras (lb 5, w 1) 6
Total (66.2 overs) 233
Fall: 1-0, 2-45, 3-65, 4-111, 5-124, 6-147, 7-170, 8-180, 9-232.
Bowling: Lewis 14-3-54-3; Franklin 13-2-50-0; Kirby 14-5-30-3; Ireland 9-2-28-1; Banerjee 16.2-3-66-2.

Gloucestershire First Innings 342 (J E C Franklin 67, C M Spearman 57, J Lewis 54, W T S Porterfield 53; D A Burton 5-68)
Second Innings
W T S Porterfield c Strauss b Berg 4
Kadeer Ali not out 8
H J H Marshall not out 28
Extras (lb 5) 5
Total (1 wkt; 9.5 overs) 45

Fall: 1-11. Bowling: Finn 4-1-16-0; Shah 1-0-1-0; Berg 3.5-2-20-1; Silverwood 1-0-3-0.

Umpires: N G C Cowley and V A Holder (WI)