ANTHONY McGrath's career as a batsman underwent an unexpected change of direction this week when skipper David Byas decided to move him out of his opening role and give him a run at number five instead.

Although McGrath may initially have received the news with some apprehension, the captain has thrown him a lifeline when he may otherwise have been about to sink out of the first team.

It is because McGrath has had such a disappointing first half of the season as opener that Byas has decided to do the job himself for a while and let McGrath go in later on.

Hopefully, the result will be that Yorkshire will get off to some far better starts and that McGrath will become a prolific scorer of runs in the middle order.

The opportunity for McGrath to open on a regular basis came with the announced retirement during the winter of Martyn Moxon, who was unable to overcome his back problems.

But whereas Michael Vaughan has enhanced his reputation as an opener this season, McGrath has struggled in the role and has found no sort of form whatsoever.

In the first nine championship matches, Vaughan scored 646 runs at an average of 53.83 while McGrath scraped together 289 runs for an average of 22.23.

The pair had only one century stand together and that was presented to them on a plate by Derbyshire who deliberately fed them easy runs in order to bring about an early declaration which came at 105 for none in 11.5 overs.

McGrath has not lost any of the shots which first marked him out as a batsman of England potential but he has not kept the same levels of concentration that led to some big innings during his days opening with the second team.

Byas was forced to act in an attempt to get some early runs on the board and his decision to go in first himself, move Matthew Wood up to No 3 and give McGrath the No 5 berth could lead to a powerful new line-up for Yorkshire.

"Anthony is a fine batsman but a change was needed and I am confident he can make a big impact in his new position," said Byas.

"We have seen from some of his Sunday innings when he bats lower down that he is quite capable of taking an attack apart and if he can do this in the championship it will be a big boost for the team."

Byas could have asked Matthew Wood to take over from McGrath as opener but after giving the matter some consideration he wisely decided to shield him from the new ball for the time being.

Wood has firmly established himself in the side but if he failed opening the innings it could lead to him losing some of the self-confidence he has built up this season.

Yorkshire now have the added advantage of right and left handers opening the innings and with Wood and Darren Lehmann coming in at three and four respectively, it means opposing bowlers are going to be constantly having to change their line.

However, the experiment with a new line-up was not paying instant dividends in Yorkshire's County Championship clash with Middlesex at Lord's.

While Vaughan continued his rich vein of form by laying anchor at the top of the order, Byas, Wood and McGrath were all dismissed cheaply.

Byas, opening with Vaughan, fell for just nine, while number three Wood fell for 14 and McGrath, batting lower down the order, managed just 15 before falling to the spin of Phil Tufnell.Opponents Middlesex racked up a healthy 448 total in their first innings.

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