JON Lewis hopes to round off a week of celebrations by helping Gloucestershire to another C&G Trophy triumph at Lord's tomorrow.

The Swindon seamer was put on stand-by for England's winter tour of South Africa on Wednesday.

He then marked his 29th birthday with another wicket against Northamptonshire yesterday and he now hopes to spearhead the county's attempt to defend the Trophy against Worcestershire in a repeat of last year's final.

Gloucestershire won 12 months ago and that experience, plus previous Trophy wins in 1999 and 2000 could prove vital in tomorrow's rematch.

"I've been in four finals before and not lost one yet and Gloucestershire have only lost one out of seven," said Lewis.

"Most of the lads here have seen it all before and that big-match experience will be very important.

"It's almost a case of 'just another day at the office'.

"But we're very excited and all the lads are ready.

"The semi final was way back in July. We've had about six weeks since then so we haven't given the game much thought until now. "We've had some very important championship matches since then as we've been fighting for survival in the top division."

Player-coach Mark Alleyne is set to defy doctors orders and play with a broken right thumb and Lewis is quick to underline his value to the cause.

"Mark's our captain and he's a very influential player," said Lewis.

"He's got a lot of experience in finals and on the big occasion.

"He'd want to play no matter what, but he wouldn't risk the team's chances for his own benefit. If he wasn't fit then he wouldn't play."

n Usman Afzaal gave Northamptonshire a Frizzell County Championship Division One lifeline with his second half-century of the match against Gloucestershire at Wantage Road.

The former England left-hander continued his rich seam of form by passing 50 runs for the 10th time this season, helping Northamptonshire convert a first innings deficit of 18 into a potential match-winning lead of 218.

A miserable day for Gloucestershire began when they surrendered four wickets for 14 in seven overs, three of them to Cook's gentle seamers.

They only secured a batting point during an entertaining last wicket stand of 55 between Ball and Lewis, who clubbed Johann Louw for a six over midwicket.

YESTERDAY'S SUMMARY

Frizzell County Championship - Division One: Old Trafford Kent 266 (M J Walker 61, R W T Key 52, G Keedy 4-62) v Lancashire 70-5 Northampton Northamptonshire 222 (U Afzaal 96) & 236-3 (U Afzaal 76 no) v Gloucestershire 240 (M E K Hussey 78) Edgbaston Warwickshire 346 (I J L Trott 90, I R Bell 87, N V Knight 65, R S C Martin-Jenkins 4-62) v Sussex 482-9 (M J Prior 95, R R Montgomerie 78, M W Goodwin 75, R J Kirtley 53 no) Frizzell County Championship - Division Two: Derby Derbyshire 138-3 (B J France 56) v Leicestershire Riverside Durham 217 (G D Bridge 51 no) v Hampshire 50-5 (L E Plunkett 4-30) Colwyn Bay Yorkshire 158-5 v Glamorgan totesport League - Division Two: Trent Bridge Scottish Saltires 143 (S C G MacGill 4-18) v Nottinghamshire Outlaws 144-7 (A Singh 67) Nottinghamshire beat Scotland by 3 wkts.