Woeful Tykes in dire trouble

Yorkshire got into all sorts of trouble after winning the toss and batting first in their NatWest Trophy second round showdown with Lancashire at Old Trafford today and by lunch they had stumbled to 88 for six with 37 of their 60 overs gone.

Although a fresh pitch had been prepared for the game, groundsman Peter Marron was apparently not happy with it and the match went ahead on the Test strip which had seen five full days of use.

Yorkshire left out Matthew Wood and Ryan Sidebottom while Neil Fairbrother and Warren Hegg came through late fitness checks for Lancashire who preferred Mike Watkinson to Glen Chapple.

Skipper David Byas opened on a grey and blustery morning in front of a sparse crowd which built up later on and there were runs off Wasim Akram's first over as the left-hander steered a single to third man and Michael Vaughan drove handsomely to the extra cover boundary.

Peter Martin shared the new ball but it was Wasim who suffered again when Byas played him neatly off his hips for four.

A backfoot force off Martin brought Vaughan three but Yorkshire's early confidence was shattered at 16 in the fifth over when Vaughan did not move his feet in attempting to cut Akram and he chopped the ball into his stumps.

Then Yorkshire suffered a cruel blow in the following over as star batsman Darren Lehmann was run out for only a single. The Australian pushed Martin out to short extra cover and set off for a run but Graham Lloyd raced in and hit the stumps with an underarm throw. Although umpire Alan Whitehead raised his finger immediately it seemed a close call and Lehmann was crestfallen at being given his marching orders.

Byas managed an edged four just outside off stump from a ball which never lifted from Wasim but at 32 in the 11th over he was spectacularly bowled by a swinging yorker from the Pakistani which plucked out the middle stump.

Yorkshire were in disarray and everything now depended on Anthony McGrath and Bradley Parker being able to retrieve the dire situation.

McGrath opened up with a splendid cover drive against Martin but Yorkshire were still in shock at 33 for three after ten overs. They should have stumbled to 36 for four when McGrath cut Martin fiercely into the hands of Michael Atherton at gully but the England opener put down a simple catch.

Lancashire made their first bowling change with Ian Austin taking over from Wasim after his lethal opening spell and in his second over the medium pacer dismissed Parker who was guilty of a dreadful error of judgement.

Parker shouldered arms to a pretty straight ball which moved in enough to flatten his off-stump and Yorkshire were 42 for four.

McGrath and Richard Blakey were rendered virtually strokeless by Austin and off-spinner Gary Yates, who turned the ball quite sharply on the wearing pitch, and when Austin was replaced by the off-spin of Watkinson he had taken one wicket for three runs in seven overs.

The fifth wicket pair had scraped together 18 in 14 overs of toil when Blakey was rooted to his crease and bowled by Watkinson.

Gavin Hamilton joined McGrath and was dropped at slip by Wasim on four but McGrath was sixth out at 82 after spending 29 overs making 25. Wasim returned and repaid McGrath for cutting him for four by trapping him lbw.

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