LANCASHIRE have dropped an idea to allow Sale to play rugby union games at Old Trafford.

The plan was for the Courage League Division One outfit to use the cricket ground for a limited number of matches starting in December.

But Lancashire are concerned about the possibility of damaging their square where two pitches have just been relaid.

Lancashire spokesman John Brewer said: "We will continue to look at ways of using the ground out of the cricket season, and we would like to thank Sale for their interest and for the manner in which discussions took place."

Old Trafford is a 21,000-seater stadium which is empty for almost seven months of the year. Lancashire are keen to extract more revenue from it - but not at the cost of the playing square which came in for criticism last season.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.