Yorkshire Phoenix will today work on plans to curb Andy Flintoff's spectacular hitting ahead of this evening's Twenty20 Roses clash at Headingley which Yorkshire must win to stand a chance of making the quarter-final draw.
As well as Lancashire Lightning having the powerful Flintoff on parade, England fast bowler James Anderson is also in their strong line-up. Although England have given Flintoff and Anderson permission to play in the match they have forbidden Michael Vaughan from taking part in any of the Twenty20 games for Yorkshire.
Not only will Yorkshire be missing Vaughan today - and tomorrow against Durham at Riverside - but they are also without top paceman, Matthew Hoggard, who is playing for MCC against the West Indies at Arundel.
Although Yorkshire batted heroically against Nottinghamshire and Leicestershire last week they still lost both matches and their only success so far came against Derbyshire who they beat off the very last ball at Derby.
"It is hard to be over-critical when we have performed so well and provided such good entertainment but the difference between ourselves and our opponents in the two games we lost was in the fielding," said director of cricket, David Byas.
"One or two half-chances were dropped and misfields occasionally cost us the odd run. These are the areas we are working on and if we can bring about a small improvement it may be enough to win." Spectators attending the Roses match who get there early will also be able to see a Twenty20 game starting at 2.30pm between two teams made up of Under 11s players from Halifax and Wetherby League sides.
During the interval of Yorkshire's game, a member of the Sky TV commentary team will present winners and runners-up medals to the youngsters.
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