Gough has the happiest of returns

Yorkshire 515-5 dec v Lancashire 89

The good news for England is that Darren Gough is looking slimmer and is bowling like himself. In a six-over spell he got two wickets, both clean bowled and, while he did concede 29 runs, 10 of those came from the over in which he bowled David Byas, whose return to Headingley was accompanied by a few boos. Gough enjoyed that; there is no love lost between them. How did he feel? "Good," he said as he walked off.

The news of Craig White is less reassuring. He bowled only two overs for 11 runs, and if, as reports have it, he has a new style, exchanging pace for variety and shaping the ball away a bit, it was hard to detect. Even when the sun began to shine brightly. Stuart Law and Alec Swann had begun to reply in kind.

The good news for Yorkshire is that they had scored 515 before declaring shortly after tea with only five wickets down, and established a commanding position in a Championship match for the first time this summer.

The innings was built on a Roses match record-breaking, third-wicket stand of 317 between Darren Lehmann and Anthony McGrath, beating 244 by the legendary Cyril Washbrook and Jack Ikin 54 years ago. Anyone young enough in the disappointing Roses crowd will remember yesterday's display for just as long.

Lehmann has been in remarkable form in recent Championship matches, having scored 608 runs in his last five innings. He was 68 when play began and seemed certain to be the first Yorkshireman to score 100 runs before lunch in a Roses match until he suddenly went quiet and made a mere 93. He especially relished the spin of Gary Keedy, and scored in every part of the perimeter.

McGrath never really emerged from Lehmann's large shadow as he made his way to his highest score in first-class cricket. The difference between them springs out of the scorer's sheet: Lehmann, 187 in 224 balls with 28 fours and a six; McGrath, 161 in 338 balls with 18 fours. But Lehmann was only doing his duty. McGrath will treasure the day.

Half way through the season the story line in the tale of two great counties has gone badly awry. The Championship winner's flag was flapping a light breeze yesterday but the talk was not about winning. Survival rather. Wayne Clark, Yorkshire's coach, calculates that, of the remaining eight games, the team need to win five and draw three, which makes a win against Lancashire an imperative.

Lancashire began the season with no great expectations. Then they won their first two games and their supporters began to think great thoughts, but the personnel had not changed. What has happened is that the red and white rose counties occupy the bottom of the first division table, Lancashire with 69 points and Yorkshire with 55.5 points after getting five batting points yesterday.

It is easier to explain Lancashire's position. This is Mike Watkinson's first season as cricket manager and he inherited a team suddenly without stars – Mike Atherton, John Crawley and Muttiah Muralitharan having gone, though for different reasons. Law had come from Essex, plus David Byas after Yorkshire let him go. In an underpowered squad no one can afford to make mistakes. Watkinson is honest enough to admit his team is not good enough to avoid them, especially when Law and Byas are injured.

To raise their spirits after a rotten start, Yorkshire's players had a beard-growing competition. The cricketers loved it and Gary Fellows was declared the champion. But the members complained that the team looked scruffy. Moreover, they did not like the Darrens, Gough and Lehmann, wearing ear rings. They are parodies of themselves, these Yorkshire members, but they will turn a great deal more difficult if Yorkshire are relegated.

Clark observes that poor Championship results – the one-day record is fine – have knocked the players' confidence, and that makes them more defensive. They can't win at Headingley, and the batsmen had got past 300 in the first innings only once before yesterday. The bowlers, who were rampant in 2001, are having a lousy year. Lehmann returns to Australia in August and now Simon Katich will not replace him since he has also been chosen for an Australian squad. Yorkshire are trying to interest Aravinda de Silva. "It makes it fairly difficult," says Clark, who may now lose White to England.

The members, who now believe it was an error to lose Byas, are unforgiving. "They're always looking at the negatives," says Clark. "People are expecting us to fail. I'm expecting us to turn around." He says he won't change what he's doing: "It's back me or sack me."

Do not imagine Yorkshire members would not relish biting the hand that fed them a Championship victory last year.