HOLD onto your hats. The Roses T20 rollercoaster is set to take off once more, and Joe Root has strapped himself in ready for the ride.

Second-placed Yorkshire, with the England Test captain available, travel to Emirates Old Trafford for their final Vitality Blast North Group fixture tomorrow (5pm), having already qualified for the quarter-finals for the first time since 2016.

They also know a win against Lancashire in front of the Sky Sports cameras will secure a top two finish in the group.

While a home quarter-final at Emerald Headingley is not possible in late August due to a clash with the England versus India Test Match (August 25-29), the club are currently exploring options as to where that quarter-final could be played should it be secured.

Wherever the quarter-final is, Lockie Ferguson will be available, having agreed to stay on beyond his commitments with Manchester Originals in the Hundred.

Unfortunately, however, he won’t be available for tomorrow because of the side injury which ruled him out of last Friday’s defeat at Nottinghamshire.

The postponement of Sunday’s final round game against Derbyshire due to their coronavirus issues means the North Group will be settled on an average points per completed match basis.

A win over Lancashire would give the White Rose a better points average than third-placed Worcestershire, whatever results the Pears get in their final two games.

A simple equation ahead of what promises to be another chaotic fixture against the old enemy.

After all, these fixtures are never anything but chaotic and exhilarating.

“I don’t know what it is about this fixture, it’s always a cracking game, whether it’s at Headingley or at Old Trafford,” said Yorkshire’s stand-in captain Adam Lyth.

“It’s always very, very close.

“It was a rain-affected at Old Trafford in 2018 and Lancs posted a huge score (176-2 in 14 overs) and we nearly chased it down, needing four off the last ball.

“We didn’t get on the right side of the result, but it was an unbelievable game.

“A couple of weeks ago at Headingley, with them needing 20 off the last over, you wouldn’t expect it to go down to the last ball. But it did.

“These are the games you want to be a part of and the ones you want to win.

“We were on the right end of the result a few weeks back, and we’d love to do the same again at Old Trafford.

“The lads are looking forward to it, and playing in front of a good crowd over there always excites us. It’s a tough place to go, but we’re confident.”

Yorkshire beat Lancashire by nine runs at Headingley at the start of the month as they defended a 181 target.

The Lightning recovered from 70-4 to require 20 off the last over from Ferguson and got it down to 10 off the last three balls before the New Zealand overseas quick claimed the Vikings’ first ever T20 hat-trick.

Lyth took a stunning catch in the deep as part of the hat-trick and celebrated with particular gusto - no surprise given it was Yorkshire’s first T20 win over Lancashire since 2017.

“It got a bit tense towards the end, but when you’ve got somebody of Lockie’s quality bowling the last over then it does ease things a bit,” he said.

“Hopefully it doesn’t get that tight again.”

Having won a Roses T20 game at any venue for the first time in four years, Yorkshire will now look to win one at Old Trafford for the first time since 2014.

If they do, it would be their first double over the Lightning since 2011.

Root is available having been left out of England’s T20 squad for their series against Pakistan, while Will Fraine is in a 14-man squad having recovered from his oblique strain.

Loan signing Mark Stoneman is also included.

Lyth said: “We’ve got the points on the board, and I think we deserve to qualify for the quarters.

“We’ve played some great cricket and some not so great stuff. That’s T20. You have to accept those things every now and again.

“Don’t forget, we have missed six, seven or eight lads, and that just proves how strong the squad is.

“Hopefully we’ll see five or six of the missing lads come back in for the quarter-finals, and that will be great.

“But we’ll look no further than this Lancashire game. We want to put in a good performance.

“It won’t be a home quarter-final at Headingley, but we still want that top two finish, which could give us an advantage when we go through.”

If Yorkshire lose tomorrow and Worcestershire win one and lose the other of their remaining two games, the Vikings would still finish in the top two in the North.