A DOUBLE gamble by Yorkshire failed to pay off on a rain-hit first day of the Roses match at Headingley yesterday.

Lancashire closed on a healthy 228-3 with Mal Loye unbeaten on 113 and Stuart Law on 59.

Firstly Yorkshire dropped off-spinner Richard Dawson in order to accommodate a fourth seamer in John Blain but captain Craig White must have regretted that tactic as Blain was flogged for 49 runs from his five overs.

And with Loye and Law putting on an unbroken 142 in 29 overs for the fourth wicket, White was probably having second thoughts about the wisdom of fielding first when a third stoppage for rain and bad light ended play for the day.

It was the fifth consecutive time since the start of the season that White had called correctly in Championship cricket and things continued to go his way for a while as Lancashire lost both openers with only 17 scored.

Deon Kruis produced a good ball which lifted for Mark Chilton to edge to second slip where Anthony McGrath held on at the second attempt and Iain Sutcliffe fell after treading on his stumps while playing a Jason Gillespie delivery.

However Loye and Australian Brad Hodge made swift progress until Blain came on for his first bowl at 76-3 and had a crazy opening over.

His first two deliveries were smacked to the boundary by Hodge and two singles followed before Hodge attempted to pull and dragged the ball into his stumps.

Two more boundaries for Loye off Blain took him to his half-century off 57 balls with nine fours and the unhappy bowler was withdrawn from the attack after three overs had cost him 29 runs for his wicket.

Loye was 69 at lunch and Lancashire 131-3 but only one over was possible after the interval before rain caused 19 overs to be lost.

Law completed his 50 off 65 deliveries with nine boundaries, and the return of Blain at 188-3 saw Loye complete a trouble-free century off 121 balls.

More rain and bad light brought forward the tea interval and only five more overs were possible on the re-start before murky light turned into torrential rain.

Updated: 11:30 Wednesday, May 17, 2006