The absence from Worcestershire's line-up of Bradford-born off-spinner Gareth Batty could give Yorkshire a big advantage in the Championship match beginning at the Scarborough Cricket Festival today.

With the North Marine Road pitch expected to take spin, Batty could have been quite a handful had he not been called into the England squad for tomorrow's third Test against South Africa at Trent Bridge.

Yorkshire should now have the advantage, however, if they play both of their slow bowlers, Andy Gray and Richard Dawson, because neither Graeme Hick nor Vikram Solanki are specialist off-spinners.

But if the pitch turns out to favour the pacemen then Yorkshire could be in trouble because Worcestershire will have greater strength in depth with South Africans Nantie Hayward and Justin Kemp, plus Kabir Ali and Matthew Mason.

It is Yorkshire's first meeting of the season with leaders Worcestershire and they need to win if they are to get back into the top three.

They are currently 36-and-a-quarter points behind Worcestershire but trail third-placed Gloucestershire by only one-and-a-half points with a game in hand.

Worcestershire's last visit to Scarborough was in 1995 when David Byas plundered 213 on his home ground, the highest score at the venue in Championship cricket.

It is almost two years ago that Byas enjoyed his greatest moment at North Marine Road by taking the catch which brought Yorkshire victory over Glamorgan to clinch the Championship for the first time in 33 years.

Since then, Yorkshire have not only been relegated but they have won just one home match - against Northamptonshire at Headingley in April when they charged to victory by an innings and 343 runs.