Lancashire v Yorkshire (County Championship)

Leg-spinner, Adil Rashid, was back to his best form in the Roses match at Old Trafford yesterday, claiming five wickets for 114 runs before the rain-hit game ended in an inevitable draw.

Rashid took his fifth wicket off the final ball of the match to bring Yorkshire a second bowling point as Lancashire closed on 247 for six in reply to the Tykes first innings score of 320.

Yorkshire squeezed nine points out of the contest to Lancashire's eight and they stayed top of the LV Championship's Division One table.

After dismissing Worcestershire's Nadeem Malik at Headingley Carnegie on May 12, to give him his 21st victim in four matches, Rashid then failed to take a wicket in his next three games.

Although Yorkshire were relaxed about his 'famine', it increased the pressure on Rashid and there was relief all round when Sanath Jayasuriya hit him into the waiting hands of Tim Bresnan just inside the boundary rope.

Team-mates rushed to congratulate the talented youngster who looked delighted to have ended his lean run with such a notable scalp.

Further successes followed for Rashid and fellow leg-spinner, Younus Khan, as Lancashire tried to hurry the scoring along in a bid to pick up batting bonus points of their own.

And there was the unique sight for much of the time of Yorkshire employing two substitute fielders both named Wood - Matthew and Greg.

They were on for Jacques Rudolph, who was nursing a bruised thumb, and England captain, Michael Vaughan, who had a slightly stiff back which he was resting merely as a precaution, according to director of cricket, Martyn Moxon.

It was young Greg Wood who took the catch at mid-wicket to dismiss Chilton for 47 off Younus and Mal Loye had made a similar score when he drove Rashid to Matthew Hoggard at long-off.

Rashid, gaining in confidence, then trapped Brad Hodge lbw attempting to cut, and in his next over he lured Steven Croft down the pitch to give Gerard Brophy an easy stumping.

Darren Gough entrusted Rashid with the final over of the day when Lancashire required ten runs for a further batting point and Yorkshire another wicket for a bowling point.

With three wanted off the final ball, Stuart Law danced down the pitch only to be stumped by Greg Wood who had put on the wicketkeeping gloves when Brophy had to retire hurt.

Yorkshire also made news off the field in the afternoon when it emerged that the club were considering lodging an official complaint about the ECB's decision to allow the Worcestershire v Kent match to be replayed after the game had been abandoned without a ball being bowled at New Road this week because of the recently flooded ground.

Chief executive, Stewart Regan, felt the decision would set a dangerous precedent and would be unfair on Surrey who, like Worcestershire, were at the bottom of the table. In the end, Regan decided to delay any possible action until after a meeting of county chief executives takes place today.

But Moxon lashed the ECB for what he claimed was a disastrous decision and unfair on other counties.

"Yorkshire two days play at Old Trafford and almost two days against Sussex at Headingley," he said.

Meanwhile, Tim Bresnan is Yorkshire's only representative in England's provisional squad of 30 for the ICC Twenty20 World Cup in South Africa in September. The 22-year-old all-rounder has played in one previous Twenty20 match for England - against Sri Lanka at the Rose Bowl last summer when he scored six and bowled two overs for 20 runs.

SCORECARD

Lancashire v Yorkshire at Old Trafford.

Overnight: Yorkshire 254-6 (M P Vaughan 74, G
L Brophy 58 no, A McGrath56).

Yorkshire First Innings
G L Brophy c Sutton b Anderson 73
T T Bresnan not out 28
J N Gillespie b Keedy 13
D Gough c Loye b Keedy 0
M J Hoggard c Sutton b Anderson 7
Extras (b1 lb9 pens 0) 10
Total (110.3 overs) 320
Fall: 1-0 2-90 3-111 4-160 5-172 6-249 7-280 8-
297 9-299
Bowling: Anderson 33.3-7-98-5. Cork 18-5-47-
1. Smith 16-2-54-0. Croft 8-1-31-0. Keedy 31-7-
70-3. Jayasuriya 4-0-10-1.

Lancashire First Innings
M J Chilton c Sub b Younus Khan 47
S T Jayasuriya c Bresnan b A Rashid 38
M B Loye c Hoggard b A Rashid 47
B J Hodge lbw b A Rashid 24
S G Law st Brophy b A Rashid 55
S J Croft st Brophy b A Rashid 5
L D Sutton not out 20
Extras (b4 lb5 nb2 pens 0) 11
Total 6 wkts (69 overs) 247
Fall: 1-61 2-117 3-149 4-166 5-180 6-247
Did Not Bat: D G Cork, T C Smith, J M Anderson,
G Keedy.
Bowling: Hoggard 6-2-6-0. Gough 13-4-29-0. A
Rashid 28-2-114-5. Gillespie 5-2-17-0. Bresnan
4-1-22-0. Younus Khan 13-1-50-1.

Lancashire (8pts) drew with Yorkshire (9pts)