Adams on attack over verbal abuse by Warne

By Colin Crompton

Shane Warne was at the centre of a sledging row yesterday after the Sussex captain, Chris Adams, accused the Australian leg-spinner of trying to humiliate opposition players.

Shane Warne was at the centre of a sledging row yesterday after the Sussex captain, Chris Adams, accused the Australian leg-spinner of trying to humiliate opposition players.

Adams said he had lost respect for his Hampshire counterpart, claiming that Warne had verbally abused the wicketkeeper-batsman Matt Prior during last weekend's drawn County Championship First Division match.

"Playing hard on the field is fine by me, but to try to publicly humiliate young players in the opposition is disappointing," Adams said. "Matt Prior came in for quite a lot of verbal abuse."

Andrew Flintoff, the England all-rounder, is set to play his first County Championship match in nearly two years when Lancashire take on Worcestershire in the Second Division today at New Road.

Flintoff returned to action for the first time on Sunday as he recovers from ankle surgery and played as a batsman in the 69-run defeat by Middlesex in the Totesport League. He suffered no reaction to that outing, when he made 17, and is included in the squad for the four-day match along with the Sri Lanka spinner Muttiah Muralitharan.

Also in the Second Division, England's Marcus Trescothick is available for Somerset as they take on Essex at Taunton. Trescothick missed most of their Championship defeat to Yorkshire as his wife, Hayley, had gone into labour.