Headingley full house can lift Yorkshire to Roses win

YORKSHIRE'S Martyn Moxon insists a full-house Roses atmosphere will inspire his team ahead of a make-or-break period for their Twenty20 ambitions.

Moxon's men take on Lancashire at Headingley Carnegie tonight (5.40pm) in front of an estimated crowd of 16,500.

Yorkshire's director of professional cricket believes the club's largest attendance of the season will lift his side as they seek to improve a record of three defeats in their opening four games.

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Moxon believes tonight's match, followed by tomorrow's visit to Durham and Sunday's trip to Leicester, will determine whether bottom-placed Yorkshire reach the quarter-finals.

"A massive Roses atmosphere will definitely lift the players," said Moxon. "Every sportsman wants to play in front of a big crowd and a full house, and I'm sure it will give us a lot of inspiration.

"A big crowd and a big atmosphere could bring out the very best in us, and we're desperate to put on a good show for our supporters.

"I know all the players are really looking forward to it because it's the sort of game that everyone wants to play in. At the moment, we could do with a lift in more ways than one because we've not had the best of starts in the Twenty20.

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"We've got 12 group games left and there's still everything to play for, but I feel that if we're going to do anything in the competition we need to do well in our next three matches.

"In my opinion, we probably need to win two of those games if we're going to make progress. If we have a poor three games, that will leave us pretty much needing to win every match, which would be a very tall order."

One man sure to be roused by tonight's atmosphere is Tino Best, who is set to make his first Twenty20 appearance for Yorkshire.

The West Indian fast bowler comes in for Twenty20 specialist Clint McKay, who is on international duty with Australia until the end of the NatWest Series on July 3.

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Yorkshire are also without Ajmal Shahzad, who was drafted into England's NatWest Series squad on Tuesday as cover for the injured Ryan Sidebottom.

Tim Bresnan will also miss tonight's game along with tomorrow's trip to Chester-le-Street, although he could play at Grace Road on Sunday as England look to assess his fitness ahead of the one-day series following a foot injury.

"It's a blow to be without Bresnan, Shahzad and McKay at the moment but we've just got to get on with it," said Moxon. "Tino will come in for Clint, while Azeem Rafiq or Ben Sanderson will probably replace Shahzad.

"Unfortunately, we're not able to get a settled side at the moment, which makes it difficult in Twenty20 because a lot of it comes down to knowing your method. It's very important that people know their roles, and it's hard to get the consistency and continuity going when you have to keep making changes."

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Although Yorkshire have plenty of catching up to do, Moxon believes the North Group is wide open.

He also feels Yorkshire are improving with the ball.

"We've definitely learnt from our first two games against Derbyshire and Worcestershire when we conceded 200-plus," he said. "What we need now is greater consistency."

Yorkshire (from): Gale (capt), Rudolph, Gibbs, McGrath, Brophy, Bairstow, Rashid, Pyrah, Best, Patterson, Rafiq, Sanderson, Lyth.