Yorkshire marked the arrival of overseas signing Aaron Finch by claiming two late wickets to halt Lancashire’s progress on the rain-hit opening day of the Roses match at Headingley.

Put into bat, Lancashire enjoyed a flying start when showers cleared and allowed play to start at 4.45pm and raced to 70 without loss in only 17 overs of a day’s play reduced to only 28 overs.

But Luis Reece, earlier dropped at third slip on 14 off Jack Brooks, hooked Liam Plunkett to fine leg for 23 before Karl Brown fell lbw to Tim Bresnan for three to leave Lancashire on 87-2 at stumps.

Yorkshire’s rally followed some uncharacteristically wayward new-ball bowling, which only increased their frustration after Bresnan missed the slip catch to remove Reece, and then Paul Horton escaped on 46 when he edged again to the England all-rounder, only for Plunkett to be penalised for over-stepping.

They will be joined later tomorrow for the first time by explosive Australian batsman Finch, who has now completed his stint with Sunrisers Hyderabad in the Indian Premier League, and he will replace Kane Williamson after the Roses match, who departs for New Zealand’s tour of West Indies until July.

“He’s an explosive batsman, he’s the No 1 T20 international player in the world, so you can’t get much better than that and we’re all excited and looking forward to having him around,” said Yorkshire director of cricket Martyn Moxon.

“When you’re looking for overseas players, you’re looking for someone who can make a difference and can put in match-winning performances for you and he’s certainly that.

“If he bats for ten to 12 overs then you know you’re going to get a decent score as long as people play well around him. I’m not expecting him to come and win every game for us but I think he’s capable of winning two, three or four games.”

Moxon added: “We were disappointed with our one-day form last year so we want to improve that.

“In 2012, we had a great run and everyone enjoyed finals day and we want some more of that, so we are taking in seriously - we want to win it.”

Finch is expected to train with the rest of the Yorkshire squad over the next few days before playing against Derbyshire on Friday and making his championship debut at Northampton the following day.

* A minute’s silence was observed before the start of play in memory of former Yorkshire and England player Philip Sharpe, who also graced the Bradford League for Manningham Mills. He died recently aged 77.