For the second time this season, Yorkshire were forced to endure a Swann song yesterday, but it failed to finish them off because they fought back well to leave the Roses game nicely poised at Old Trafford.

Having seen a potentially substantial lead slip away, Lancashire declared at 301 for nine just seven runs ahead, then jolted Yorkshire by dismissing Chris Taylor for his second duck of the match.

Yorkshire ended a day of fluctuating fortunes on three for one with both sides still have everything to play for in this battle against relegation.

Former Northants batsman, Alec Swann, who joined Lancashire at the start of the season, scored his first century for his new county on his Roses debut at Headingley last month.

Yesterday the opener again cruised to three figures, his 112 making him the first Lancashire player to score two centuries on his first two Roses appearances.

Yorkshire's last two wickets in the morning added 22, with Richard Blakey taking his score to 77 off 180 balls with eight fours. But both he and Steven Kirby succumbed to young paceman James Anderson, who finished with excellent figures of five for 61.

Kirby almost marked his return from injury with a first ball wicket, but his appeal for lbw against Swann was rejected by umpire John Steele, the decision prompting the red-haired entertainer to go through his full gamut of glares and stares.

Swann dominated the early stages of his opening stand of 140 with Mark Chilton and he roughed up 17-year-old Nick Thornicroft when he came on for his first bowl in first-class cricket by smacking two boundaries in his first over.

It was not the most accurate of starts for Thornicroft, who also had a costly second spell in which three overs cost 20 runs, but he came back well in the final session to claim two wickets.

Yorkshire had to wait 36 overs to make the breakthrough, but it arrived in spectacular fashion as Kirby dipped one in to Chilton, who offered no stroke and had his off-stump flattened for 45.

A lofted on-drive off Richard Dawson took Swann to his century before he lost David Byas to the off-spinner, the former Yorkshire captain not hesitating to walk when the ball hit his pad then appeared to brush a glove on its way to Michael Lumb at short leg.

Blakey atoned for a poor display behind the stumps by holding a smart catch down the leg side to bring Anthony McGrath the wicket of Swann, who had hit 19 fours and faced 188 balls, and Yorkshire worked well after that to stop the game drifting away from them.

Stuart Law fell for 47 to a stunning diving left-handed catch at cover by McGrath - perhaps the best he has ever taken - and Thornicroft joyfully claimed his first two wickets when Neil Fairbrother and Glen Chapple both hit him straight to Gary Fellows.

Two wickets in three balls for Chris Silverwood left Lancashire on 291 for nine and Warren Hegg, who has a badly dislocated finger, came in to bat to try to get Lancashire to 300 and a third batting bonus point. A boundary apiece for himself and Anderson did the trick and they promptly declared.

There was still time, however, for the luckless Taylor to bag a pair when Chapple's second ball came off bat and pad for Chilton to take a sprawling catch at short leg.

* Yorkshire have been unable to cope with the colossal demand for tickets for the Cheltenham and Gloucester Trophy final with Somerset at Lord's on August 31.

The club's initial allocation of 3,000 tickets from Lord's was sold out immediately and a further 800 which they requested also were snapped up.

"We have been inundated with applications from members and supporters from around the county and elsewhere but, regrettably, we have had to return all the applications from non-members," said Yorkshire chief executive Chris Hassell.

"Even some members have been left without tickets."

Costcutter boss Colin Graves, one of Yorkshire's four-man team of trouble-shooters, said: "It is like the FA Cup, the true fans have trouble getting tickets and in this case it is because of hospitality, MCC members and other factors.

"It is the big counties like Yorkshire and Lancashire who get hit on these big occasions."

Graves said that ticket sales for next week's Headingley Test were looking far more encouraging and now stood at around £850,000.

"This is still about £150,000 below budget but I am optimistic that we will hit our target," he said.

* England all-rounder Andrew Flintoff saw a surgeon last night to try to pinpoint the seriousness of his troublesome groin injury.