HALF centuries from Steven Croft and Tom Smith gave Lancashire the edge after they had been put in to bat on the first day of the County Championship Roses clash at Headingley.

Lancashire overcame difficult conditions early on to finish on 304 for seven in 85.3 overs as Croft (54) and Smith (51) steered them towards a respectable total.

Ryan Sidebottom struck in his second over by trapping Stephen Moore lbw without scoring Karl Brown looked in good form until he drove too casually outside off-stump at Sidebottom to be caught by Rudolph at first slip.

Ajmal Shahzad and the impressive Richard Pyrah kept it tight when they took over the attack.

Paul Horton had made 36 in the morning session but he could not add to his score because with the second ball of the afternoon Shahzad extracted extra bounce and the opener was caught behind by Jonny Bairstow.

Sidebottom returned to produce a good ball which Chilton edged to Anthony McGrath at second slip for 33 and Lancashire would have lost half their wickets for 135 if McGrath had not then dropped a two-handed chance above his head from the obdurate Croft.

It turned out to be a costly miss because Croft and Smith settled in well together and Croft completed his half-century off 96 balls by sweeping Adil Rashid for his eighth boundary.

The fifth-wicket pair put on 77 together in 32 overs but, with rain around, the light began to deteriorate and Croft did not appear to pick up the last ball before tea from Shahzad and was yorked.

After further rain, Smith drove Shahzad powerfully for consecutive fours and reached his 50 from 79 deliveries with nine boundaries but he slashed at Wardlaw and was caught behind to bring the bowler his maiden first-class wicket.

There was applause from the home fans when Pyrah deservedly got among the wickets by nipping one back to pin Cross lbw for 30 and make Lancashire 251 for seven.

Sajid Mahmood soon boosted the score with a couple of big sixes off Rashid and he and Glen Chapple had added an unbeaten 50 when bad light ended play with 3.3 overs remaining of the day’s play.