MICHAEL Lumb has just peeled off a string of stylish half-centuries in limited overs cricket, yet it is still turning out to be a season to forget for the Yorkshire left-hander.

Despite these successes, Lumb has lost his place in the Championship side and he could struggle to regain it no matter how many runs he clocks up in one-day matches or for the Second XI.

It is a frustrating situation for the 25-year-old South African-born son of Yorkshire opener, Richard.

Michael, who had represented South Africa in the Under-19s World Cup, decided to forge out his career in England, and after qualifying during a couple of seasons with Yorkshire Seconds he made his Championship debut in 2001.

He showed in his maiden century against Leicestershire that season that here was a young batsman who had a flair for attacking play and possessed a wide range of exciting strokes.

His time at the national Academy at Loughborough and with England 'A' in Malaysia and India in 2003-04 showed that Duncan Fletcher considered him to be one of the bright young England hopes of the future.

Lumb had a great season for Yorkshire in 2003 when he topped 1,000 first-class runs but last year he looked jaded from playing all-year-round cricket and he managed only 546 runs in 13 Championship matches for an average of 24.81.

I was confident that Lumb would return to Yorkshire this spring fully refreshed and back to his old form but he made only 50 runs in his first three Championship innings and then missed the next couple of games through injury.

On his return, he looked to be settling down well but got out just when appearing to have done most of the hard work. His first half-century of the season was a gritty affair in the Roses match at Headingley, but it could not save him from getting axed from the next match against Worcestershire.

Meanwhile, Lumb was becoming Yorkshire's most consistent batsman in one-day cricket. His 57 last Sunday against Warwickshire Bears at Scarborough was his third consecutive half-century in the Totesport League and followed an unbeaten 66 against Leicestershire Foxes at Grace Road and 56 in the day-night match at Headingley with Surrey Lions.

In between, Lumb's sparkling 89 brought him the man-of-the-match award in Yorkshire's Cheltenham and Gloucester Trophy clash with Northamptonshire and saw them safely through to the semi-finals.

So why was Lumb dropped from Championship cricket?

The fact is that Yorkshire just had to bring Joe Sayers into the side and the only two vulnerable batsmen were Lumb and opener Matthew Wood.

Director of cricket David Byas had a difficult decision to take but he decided to keep faith initially with Wood because he had made a much better start to the season, despite a desperately poor run after the first few weeks, and because Lumb had failed to convert 20s and 30s into really big scores.

Lumb, who admitted that he was not happy with the decision to drop him, was told to win back his place by rattling up the runs in the Second XI Championship, and he responded by compiling 130 in their emphatic victory over Surrey Seconds at Whitgift School.

Unfortunately for Lumb, Yorkshire at around the same time were compiling 400-4 to beat Leicestershire at Scarborough with each of the top five batsmen making a half-century or more.

Therefore, Lumb was forced to stay in the cold for the game against Derbyshire which has just concluded at Headingley and in which Yorkshire blasted 570.

Even if Wood cannot hold on to his place, Lumb may still not get an early chance because East Bierley opener Chris Taylor has been piling up the runs for the Second XI and in the Bradford League.

Updated: 08:52 Saturday, July 30, 2005