ANTHONY McGrath continued his sparkling pre-season form with a blistering 88 against Lancashire at Old Trafford yesterday.

McGrath, who notched two centuries on the recent preseason tour of the United Arab Emirates, including one against Lancashire, fired the Tykes to 239-7 from their allotted 50 overs.

It proved too much for the Red Rose, although Paul Horton’s fine 96 gave Yorkshire a scare and made sure the margin of defeat was only 13 runs. They finished on 226-8.

Yorkshire, who were asked to field first by the hosts, built a solid platform thanks to another encouraging knock from in-form opener Joe Sayers, 39 off 68 balls.

Michael Vaughan then notched 29 while sharing a third wicket partnership of 48 with McGrath.

Vaughan will today meet up with the MCC squad ahead of their four-day friendly against county champions Durham at Lord’s, which begins tomorrow.

Like Sayers and Vaughan, McGrath seemed intent on making best use of time in the middle in English conditions, but with the overs ticking towards 50 he exploded to score his last 45 runs off just 18 balls.

Wicketkeeper Gerard Brophy’s 38-ball 36 was another reason why Yorkshire posted the score they did, but it perhaps could have been more had Lancashire’s all-rounder Steven Croft not put the brakes on with three wickets in the 48th and 50th over of the innings.

The promising 24-year-old finished with 5-62 from his nine overs, including the late wickets of Tim Bresnan and Rich Pyrah in consecutive balls.

Lancashire got off to a solid start in reply thanks to Mal Loye’s 43, but lost three wickets in two overs to slump to 102-5 in the 30th.

Azeem Rafiq, Yorkshire’s bowling pick with figures of 2- 22 from seven overs, removed Croft and Luke Sutton for ducks in the same over.

Croft was trapped lbw, while Sutton was caught behind.

Horton and Karl Brown then attacked hard, getting the runs req u i r e d d o w n from 75 off the last eight to 19 off the final over. Brown also impressed with 47, but he followed Horton back to the hut in the final two overs to end any home hopes.

While Rafiq was the pick of the White Rose bowling, there were certainly others who impressed.

Deon Kruis, Bresnan, Pyrah and James Lee all claimed a wicket apiece.

As entertaining as this game was, both sides found it difficult to bat due to the slow and tacky nature of the Old Trafford wicket.

McGrath and Horton were the only two players to really get in, but even they looked uneasy at the crease.

Yorkshire director of cricket Martyn Moxon will use a squad rotation policy for the second friendly between the two sides tomorrow, also at Old Trafford, but McGrath will not play.

The likes of Matthew Hoggard, Chris Taylor, Andrew Gale and Luke Hodgson should be amongst those who will come into contention.

Yorkshire’s squad have their official press day at Headingley today.