Yorkshire in control as Rashid sparkles

"CRICKET With A Side Order Of Conflict" proclaimed a banner outside Old Trafford advertising this fixture.

It says everything about the times in which we live that one of cricket's oldest rivalries has to be made aggressive to sound appealing, as though a match between Lancashire and Yorkshire is not in itself sufficient to attract support.

Whoever dreams up such preposterous slogans should be locked in a darkened room and made to read Cardus and Kilburn until they recognise the error of their ways, or better still just locked in a darkened room while the key is buried somewhere on the Pennines.

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If Roses traditions are not strong enough to entice the public of Lancashire and Yorkshire, the game truly has reached a sorry state.

Long gone, of course, are the days when crowds clamoured to gain admittance to Old Trafford and Headingley to witness County Championship engagements between these sides.

When Cardus and Kilburn shared a press box they would have had to fight their way through expectant throngs for whom the fixtures had enormous significance.

The matches are still important, of course, even though the throngs have dissolved into more of a trickle.

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There is nothing quite like a duel between the Red Rose and White Rose to stimulate excitement – even if the games have tended to produce fairly uninspiring cricket in recent years, perhaps echoing the time-honoured verity that neither side is prepared to give an inch.

This match, however, has risen above the ranks of the humdrum.

Going into day three, Lancashire are 187-6 in reply to Yorkshire's 447 and already praying that tomorrow's forecast bad weather enables them to force an 11th draw in the last 12 Roses meetings – assuming they can first of all take the game into a fourth and final day.

Adil Rashid and Azeem Rafiq have shared the six wickets to fall and posed major problems with their spin and guile.

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Lancashire are 111 short of avoiding the follow-on and have a task on their hands to prevent Yorkshire recording a fourth victory in nine Championship games.

After play began 20 minutes late yesterday due to light rain, which soon gave way to glorious sunshine that brought the distant Pennines to life, Yorkshire achieved their first objective by claiming maximum batting points after resuming on 379-8.

Remarkably, it was the first time they have claimed maximum batting points this summer – despite the fact it was the sixth time in nine innings they have totalled 400-plus.

That is clearly an area for them to work on, although it was not so long ago that Yorkshire were struggling to score 400 full stop, emphasising how far they have come in recent times.

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Richard Pyrah and Steve Patterson lifted them past the magic figure here before Pyrah was ninth out with the total on 418, brilliantly run-out by Steven Croft as he attempted a single to point off Daren Powell.

Patterson went on to 27 before hooking a delivery from Kyle Hogg that was clutched at the second attempt by Simon Kerrigan at long-leg, bringing the innings to a close shortly after lunch.

Yorkshire bowled poorly at the start of the Lancashire innings, with Tino Best particularly wayward.

The West Indian pace man has shown plenty of pluck during his short time with the club but has yet to produce a sparkling performance.

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Best seemed preoccupied with riling Simon Katich, the pair several times exchanging words.

A heart-on-the-sleeve performer and popular in the dressing room, Best has a number of admirable qualities but there are times when he perhaps takes his enthusiasm too far.

Best having sprayed the new ball, Oliver Hannon-Dalby and Pyrah stemmed the scoring after Lancashire initially rattled along at six runs an over.

Hannon-Dalby opened up with two much-needed maidens after replacing Best, while Pyrah produced an accurate spell of medium-pace.

But it was Rashid who did the major damage.

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The leg-spinner grabbed a smart return catch to dismiss Stephen Moore before having Paul Horton lbw and Mark Chilton caught at slip as Lancashire slid to 143-3.

Then Rafiq had Croft and Katich caught close to the wicket before bowling Kerrigan as Yorkshire ended firmly in charge.