JOHN CRAWLEY was set to resume the Lancashire captaincy as they aimed to stop the Yorkshire bandwagon at Headingley today.

The Tykes have a big lead at the top of the First Division table and are heading for their first title since 1968.

In contrast Lancashire have slipped to sixth after losing their last two games against Kent and Somerset.

But they were back at full strength -- apart from Muttiah Muralitharan -- today.

Crawley missed Wednesday's C&G victory over Durham because of a family bereavement but told the club yesterday that he would be back for the Roses match.

Mike Atherton, who has such a good record against Yorkshire, was also back and aiming to get some runs on the board ahead of next week's third Ashes Test at Trent Bridge.

Lancashire coach Bobby Simpson admits he is preparing his side for a tooth and nail tussle.

He said: "It is a very important game and it is a matter of trying to get a win out of matches like this to keep up our challenge.

"It will be very tight I should think but games like this usually are."

Yorkshire were still missing their injured England men Michael Vaughan and Matthew Hoggard, but Darren Gough and Craig White were available.

And Lancashire were also primed to watch out for Steve Kirby, the young paceman who has been the discovery of the season.

Kirby was playing club cricket in Leicestershire and working in a tiling factory before he was given a shock call-up by Yorkshire when several of their pace bowlers were injured.

He responded with a match-winning performance against Kent and has continued to impress with his raw pace and aggression, blasting out three Warwickshire batsmen in a floodlit National League match at Headingley last Monday -- although he was less impressive as Warwicks took their revenge by knocking Yorkshire out of the C&G on Wednesday.

Today's game was the first of a Roses double header, with Yorkshire coming to Old Trafford on Tuesday week. And with Lancashire facing Glamorgan, the team most likely to drag them into relegation danger, at Colwyn Bay next week, this is make or break time for their season.