Yorkshire head into a crucial Friends Provident Twenty20 Roses match at Headingley tomorrow night with Anthony McGrath urging his team-mates to get back to basics in order to keep their quarter-final hopes alive.

The former skipper was at the crease when the rain came to scupper their victory charge against Northants on Sunday but doesn’t want to think too much about the reasons for that third defeat in four.

“I think with Twenty20, there’s a tendency to over-analyse and I think it’s better to turn up fresh and play on instinct,” said the all-rounder, who features for the 50th time in cricket’s shortest format against Lancashire.

“You can look into it too much, prepare too much, get to the ground too early and, mentally, you could have run your race before the game starts. We are trying to be fresh this year.”

But focus is going to be important over a crucial four days with the county bottom of the North Division.

“The nature of Twenty20 is that everyone beats everyone,” continued McGrath, who should also line up at Durham on Friday and at Leicestershire on Sunday.

“It’s quite a long competition with 16 games, so it’s better to judge us after ten or 12.

“Matches against Lancashire are always fixtures we look forward to. There’s no better opponent to beat than them.”

Tino Best is set to play his first 20-over match of the summer due to the absences of Clint McKay and Ajmal Shahzad – both on international duty.

The bowling set-up seems like the strong suit for the White Rose at the moment, underpinned by Bradfordian Adil Rashid taking four wickets in each of the last two matches.

McGrath added: “In the last two games, I think Adil has bowled very well. He’s worked out the pace he wants to bowl and everyone knows he can turn the ball.”