Moxon expected tough final day

Martyn Moxon was pleased with his side's efforts given their vastly depleted attack

Yorkshire director of cricket Martyn Moxon admitted his callow bowling attack had been stretched to capacity on the final day of their LV County Championship draw with Lancashire, but is ready to welcome back fit-again England seamer Matthew Hoggard.

Hoggard, who has been missing from the line-up since having a finger broken by his 2005 Ashes team-mate Steve Harmison, today received good news about his rehabilitation and looks set to rejoin the side for Wednesday's Friends Provident Trophy quarter-final at Gloucestershire.

His return would be just the tonic for Moxon's men, who were subjected to a long, hard slog in the field as Lancashire compiled 481 for five against an attack also shorn of Deon Kruis, Ajmal Shahzad and Rana Naved-ul-Hasan.

"It was a hard day today," conceded Moxon.

"Losing Gough was always going to be tough. We didn't quite get the rub of the green but we are generally pretty pleased with the way the lads performed.

"We are depleted at the moment so to lose Gough at the start of the day meant it was a big ask for the younger bowlers.

"Hoggard is in the squad (for Gloucestershire) and he's had the all clear from the X-ray today. He's going to have another bowl tomorrow and do some catching but if he comes through that he should be okay to play."

Matthew Hoggard is on the road to recovery for Yorkshire after breaking a finger against Durham

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His performances when he does make his Yorkshire comeback will be of great interest to the England selectors, who dropped him in New Zealand over the winter.

But despite his side's remaining injury worries, Moxon is excited by the prospect of reaching a showcase one-day final.

"We're all looking forward to it, we're two games from Lord's and that's something we all want to achieve.

"We'll go to play to the best of our capabilities, hope we do well and that the result goes our way."

Lancashire cricket manager Mike Watkinson, whose side had the better of proceedings, was pragmatic about the loss of the third day's play - something which all but ended any hopes of a result.

"We accept that teams will have won games around the country but there's nothing we can do about that. We can only be judged on the hours we've had available to us," he said.

"We're in the north and we are going to be affected from time to time, but we made a good fist of the three days we had.

"The lads battled hard on a difficult sort of pitch. There were good partnerships and it will be good for our batting confidence."

While Yousuf, who leaves the county circuit to link up with Pakistan this week, and Horton stole the show, Watkinson was keen to hail the contribution of Steven Croft, who hit a career-best 96.

His fifth-wicket stand with the Test star was worth 197 - another Roses record.

"A hundred would have been a great milestone for him in a Roses match, but his time will come again," said Watkinson.

"We needed a partnership to get us to 400 and maximum bonus points and Croft was a big part of that partnership with Yousuf."