YORKSHIRE V LANCASHIRE - PREVIEW

Lancashire make their trip over the Pennines without Mal Loye, most recently seen spitting feathers in the Manchester Evening News about being left out of the Twenty20 international squad. But his back injury could begin to even things out between the two teams, because at the time of writing Jacques Rudolph is unavailable to Yorkshire as he is unwell.


As big a threat to the Yorkshire batting line up as Rudolph's possible absence is the inclusion of Flintoff in the Lancashire squad. While he looked unconvincing with the bat during the recent Twenty20 Finals, his bowling was certainly moving in the right direction for him to return to full fitness.

On paper, Yorkshire has the stronger batting line up. If Rudolph is fit there will be three batsmen who average over fifty in the competition this year (Younus Khan, McGrath and Rudolph) against Lancashire's one (Stuart Law). As for bowling, Lancashire rely heavily on Murali while Yorkshire offer a more balanced attack.

But Roses games are different. While Yorkshire should be firm favourites to win this one, these special games sometimes buck the trend. And with the good weather, summer holidays and the Flintoff factor, a large crowd should descend on Headingley to enjoy a fiercely fought game of cricket.