Another Brilliant Conquest Of Old Trafford

Yorkshire quickly brushed aside their devastating exit from the Twenty20 Blast by hitting the ground running with an impressive fifty-overs triumph against a formidable Lancashire team in their own backyard. In spite of the considerable efforts of the centurion Karl Brown, the Tykes were able to secure a unique limited overs double against the next door neighbour, having previously won at Manchester in a Twenty20 skirmish.

Although Karl Brown was undoubtedly the man of the match as he almost single-handedly resisted the visitors, his team did not bat with the same consistency as Yorkshire. For the latter, everybody in the top order made useful contributions. It was good to see Adam Lyth restored to the top of the batting order, and he did not disappoint, as he set the tone for Yorkshire's opening salvo. Meanwhile his opening partner Alex Lees just goes from strength to strength in one-day cricket. Although it would undermine Yorkshire's County Championship bid in September, one could make a strong case for easing Alex into the England set-up by granting him game time in some of England's forthcoming one-day internationals avec India.

However, one continuing cause for concern is whether Yorkshire's bowling attack can bowl with sufficient control to enable the county to thrive in the Royal London One-Day Cup. The evidence from the Twenty20 jamboree is that our bowlers are possibly the weak link. Having said that, when batting conditions are favourable, then most bowling units struggle in these modern-day slogfests. I must admit that I was quite startled when Azeem Rafiq was omitted from the starting eleven, as I reckon that he was the Vikings' best bowler in the Twenty20 campaign. Anyhow, the reintroduction of Brooks and Patterson were welcome inclusions, while the demotion of Ryan Sidebottom was a necessary evil. In the event, Brooks, Lyth, and Rashid were too expensive, in spite of accumulating four wickets between them. There again, in mitigation, it was to be expected that a few individuals would feel the full force of a Lancashire backlash as they went in search of a huge target. Fortunately for the away team, the red rose's tail capitulated as they desperately sought to climb Mount Everest.

It was extremely important for Yorkshire to achieve a good start to the Royal London Cup. If they can win four of their remaining seven group matches, they will safely reach the quarter finals. Gloucestershire will travel up the motorway on Tuesday for our next outing. If the hosts can banish the memories of their two most recent home reverses on the last two Fridays, then hopefully they will prevail against the team from the west country, and then a strong challenge for this limited overs competition may become a realistic possibility.

Lancashire versus YORKSHIRE; at Manchester; Saturday July 26th. YORKSHIRE won the toss.

YORKSHIRE: 324 for seven (Williamson 70, Lees 66; Ali 3-77)

Lancashire: 277 off 46.4 overs (Brown 129)

YORKSHIRE won by 47 runs. Lancashire 0 points, YORKSHIRE 2 points.