Yorkshire captain David Byas was left rueing one decision that did not go their way as they were sent spinning to defeat by 59 runs in the Roses match at Headingley yesterday.

"It was disappointing to lose this important game but I thought we picked ourselves up very well after bowling so badly on the first day and we showed our determination by getting back on level terms and then taking the initiative on the third evening," he said.

"We felt we were unlucky that John Crawley was not given out caught behind off Gavin Hamilton when he was 25 as that would have left Lancashire with five down for around 50 but this sort of thing happens in cricket."

On a wearing pitch Yorkshire's victory target of 243 in 60 overs proved well out of reach as the last wicket went down at 183 with 5.2 overs of a gripping contest still remaining.

The man to inflict the most damage on Yorkshire was their former reserve left-arm spinner Gary Keedy who grabbed five for 35 while off-spinner Gary Yates claimed four for 69 at the Kirkstall Lane end.

Wakefield-born Keedy, 23, joined Lancashire for the start of the 1995 season after playing in only one championship match for his native county. But he proved too much for Yorkshire yesterday by extracting appreciable turn from the pitch and he captured the most important wicket of all when he trapped Darren Lehmann lbw to start a slide that could not be halted.

There was no disgrace in defeat for Yorkshire who had fought their way back into the match so spiritedly after Lancashire had rattled up 484 in their first innings, but the reversal brought an end to their championship hopes.

For Lancashire, however, the win moved them into second place behind Surrey who they now trail by only 21 points, each side having played 13 matches.

Yorkshire were very much on equal terms at the start of the final day when Lancashire resumed on 109 for four with a 136 lead and unfortunately for Yorkshire, they could not dispose of the second half of Lancashire's batting as quickly as they would have liked and they were all out for 215.

Yorkshire had ample time in which to reach their target and Byas and Michael Vaughan got them off to a rapid start with Vaughan becoming the first Yorkshire batsman to complete 1,000 first class runs this season when he moved on to 11 with the second of two boundaries off Wasim Akram.

But with the score on 32, Vaughan was struck high on the pad by Wasim Akram and adjudged lbw, the Lancashire captain soon afterwards deciding to go off the field again for yet another lengthy spell.

Keedy and Yates were bowling in tandem and Yorkshire were soon on the rack and heading for defeat.

When Matthew Wood lost his middle stump to Keedy for 44, Yorkshire's last realistic chance had gone but they continued to fight against the odds until their final wicket fell.

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