Director of cricket Martyn Moxon is praying the weather has not halted Yorkshire’s Friends Life t20 momentum as he makes preparations for a difficult next week in two competitions.

Steady showers forced umpires Neil Bainton and Neil Mallender to call off yesterday’s t20 Headingley encounter against Northamptonshire without a ball being bowled, denying Yorkshire the chance of claiming three wins in a row.

But Moxon’s focus for the next few days will be on preparing Yorkshire for another Roses encounter at Headingley next Friday, before they travel up the A1 for a four-day championship match against title-favourites Durham starting the following morning.

“We need to give the lads a couple of days break because they’ve had a busy schedule of late and then we’ve got a busy schedule when we start again on Friday,” admitted Moxon.

“We’ll have a couple of days rest and then a couple of days practice ready for an important six days.

“Ultimately the quality of the product has to be affected when you have situations like that.

“With the best will in the world, given decent weather and the game going its full course, we’re not going to get to the hotel at Durham until 11.30pm and you can’t just go straight to sleep then.

“Having played in a t20 game and then driven up there, it takes time to wind down, so it’s going to be a challenge for both teams to come out Saturday morning and put in quality four-day cricket.”

Yorkshire did consider asking Durham, who are playing a t20 match at Leicester on Friday so have similar travel problems, if they could make a joint application to the England and Wales Cricket Board to delay the start of the championship match, but decided to stick with the original schedule.

Weather permitting this week, Moxon is hopeful that a couple of days practice should enhance their skills as they attempt to complete a Roses double over Lancashire in front of a packed Headingley crowd next Friday.

Having gone straight from championship cricket into their t20 campaign without any time to practice, which resulted in successive defeats against Warwickshire and Nottinghamshire, Moxon is hopeful the next few days will sharpen their skills for the fixtures ahead.

“It didn’t help not having any practice, but the two days we did practice showed,” he added.

“I think we were a lot sharper, although there is still plenty of work to be done.”

• Stamford Bridge Cricket Club are hosting a three-day Second XI fixture between Yorkshire and Derbyshire starting at Low Catton Road tomorrow at 11am.