There are three main reasons why they should welcome a trip across the Pennines.

Firstly, the elevated intensity of a Roses match ought to provide a welcome distraction from their current predicament – Yorkshire have slithered into the relegation zone, having lost four matches out of five since victory over Somerset took them to the top of the table.

Secondly, while Yorkshire have been suffering from numerous costly collapses, their opponents' batting has been just as bad. The Red Rose have passed 400 just once in the Championship all season and they have mustered only 22 of a possible 50 batting points. In the Pro40 on Sunday, they were bowled out for just 84 by a Worcestershire side that was missing Simon Jones.

Thirdly, the Lancashire ground staff keep preparing pitches that are conducive to spin, even though the strength of the home attack is in the seam department. Hampshire's Imran Tahir returned figures of 12-189 at Old Trafford a fortnight ago, and Sussex's Ollie Rayner took 5-65 in the first innings there last week. Yorkshire's Adil Rashid, back on peak form following his 7-107 at Hampshire on Thursday, will be relishing the surface.

Wicketkeeper Gerard Brophy agrees that Old Trafford is not the worst venue for Yorkshire to be playing at this week.

"There's always that extra bit of hype around a Roses match," he said. "They are the games where you particularly want to do well, to excel. Even though this will be the ninth time we've played Lancashire this season – if you include pre-season – it doesn't detract from it. A big game is a big game, and I always enjoy the Roses Championship matches.

"Lancashire are not playing as well as they'd like to be playing and we will hope to take advantage – but I'm sure they'll be saying exactly the same thing about us. Old Trafford should spin. It's good to see Adil Rashid picking up wickets, and I expect to spend a fair bit of time stood up to the stumps."

Brophy is perfectly placed to assess Rashid's bowling and he expects him to continue to make a major impact, although he knows that the young all-rounder will not be a world-beater in every innings.

"For me, Rash is very much a rhythm bowler. I can see that he's going to bowl well from the confident way he approaches the wicket. He is bowling as well as I've seen him

"He's a wicket-taking bowler, but he's only young and there will be times when he bowls bad balls. As a team, we've got to stick by him at those times, because he's definitely going to take wickets for us.

"I think we've got one of the best attacks around. We've got a mature, seasoned attack. We've played a lot of good cricket and no one has got away from us."

As Brophy acknowledges, the batting has not been so hot. 'Mature' and 'seasoned' are not adjectives that spring to mind when thinking of the top-order, which features two players in their first seasons as first XI regulars. The Yorkshire line-up can be seen as a work in progress, a unit that should improve with time, and it is set to be unaltered today, with bowlers Darren Gough and Tim Bresnan the only additions to the side that lost at the Rose Bowl.

"When you're not winning, people can look to change things around," said Brophy. "But I think we've got the right personnel in there. It will be good to have Michael Vaughan when he is available (the former England captain is expected to feature against Kent at Scarborough at the end of the month) – he will be really good for the young batsmen.

"We've got a young batting line-up, and they are definitely good enough – they've all performed at some stage. Everyone has got runs recently: I wouldn't say anyone is in a bad run of form. We've just not been as consistent as we would like."

Bresnan is the team's leading wicket-taker and is certain to be named in the XI after being rested last week. Gough, whose four Championship wickets have cost him 75.50 runs apiece, could leave himself out again.