LANCASHIRE Lightning successfully completed a Red Rose double by retaining Division One status in the totesport League - just a day after bouncing back to the top flight of the County Championship.
Lightning secured their place in the totesport League top flight with a 75-run win against Worcestershire Royals to condemn the hosts at New Road.
Fresh from landing the Division Two crown in the Frizzell County Championship, they condemned Worcestershire to relegation in the one-day league with a show of all-round strength in a rain-reduced 33-over match.
In a tense "loser goes down" situation, Stuart Law, with 67 off 64 balls, and Glen Chapple (41) secured a valuable total of 186 for eight before their bowlers silenced a sizeable home crowd by dismissing the Royals for 111.
Worcestershire were only in contention in the opening phase. First-change seamer David Leatherdale dismissed the opening pair, Iain Sutcliffe and Andrew Crook, in his first two overs and Lancashire could easily have folded when Andrew Symonds and Mark Chilton fell in quick succession to Gareth Batty.
With left arm spinner Ray Price getting through seven overs for 20 runs, the pressure was on until Batty conceded four sixes, one to Chapple and three in a row to Law, in a match-turning over costing 27 runs.
Batty (three for 51) partly redeemed himself by dismissing Law with a low catch by Vikram Solanki at short mid-off and Kabir Ali removed Chapple with an athletic swoop by Stephen Moore at deep extra cover.
Shoaib Akhtar said farewell to Worcestershire by bowling Sajid Mahmood for figures of one for 40 in seven overs, but Lancashire's bowlers achieved a higher level of consistency once Chapple had recovered from three boundaries by Moore in the opening over.
Chapple claimed a big wicket when Chris Gayle edged to point and Graeme Hick mistimed a pull off James Anderson, who finished with three for 12. Solanki lingered for a while for 23 but was smartly stumped by Gareth Cross in a spell of two for 26 by Symonds, in his medium pace mode, and late-season spin recruit Murali Kartik took two for 24.