Former Yorkshire captain David Byas took a blinding catch on the third day of the Roses match at Old Trafford today as Lancashire got on top with two wickets in four balls from James Anderson.

And worse was to follow when Matthew Elliott was run out for eight, leaving Yorkshire tottering on 39 for four.

Yorkshire resumed on three for one, just four runs in arrears, and these were quickly wiped out by Vic Craven and nightwatchman Steven Kirby who was responsible for most of the runs.

A bouncer from Glen Chapple deflected off Kirby's helmet for four leg-byes but the batsman played a good shot off Anderson with a clip off his toes which went for four.

In the same over, however, he made contact with a ball which bounced a bit more than he expected and three balls later Craven played off the shoulder of the bat for Byas to dive far to his right at wide third slip and cling on to the sort of catch which so often drew applause in his Yorkshire days.

Australian Elliott and Anthony McGrath had a crisis on their hands with Yorkshire 24 for three and they had all on to keep Lancashire's opening pair of bowlers at bay.

Anderson, again confirming his status as one of the country's best young fast bowling prospects, had a loud appeal for a catch behind against Elliott rejected and the left-hander responded with a cut for four with McGrath also taking a boundary off the same over.

But disaster struck at 39 when McGrath played Chapple to mid-wicket and immediately set off for a single but action-man Anderson pounced on the ball and three down the stumps at the striker's end with television replays showing that Elliott was fractionally short of his crease.

It was a bad mistake by McGrath and he began to make amends by pulling Anderson for four and cutting Chapple over the top of gully for another boundary to take Yorkshire to 52 for four.

Yorkshire hit back well yesterday after they had been savaged for the second time this season by former Northants batsman, Alec Swann.

The opener scored 128 on his Roses debut at Headingley a month ago and this time he blasted their attack for 112 off 188 balls with 19 boundaries before being caught down the legside by Richard Blakey off one of Anthony McGrath's medium pacers.

Swann became the only Lancashire player ever to score a century in each of his first two Roses games, a feat achieved for Yorkshire by Geoff Boycott in 1963 when he also did it in consecutive innings.

Swann and Mark Chilton roughed up Yorkshire with an opening stand of 140 in 36 overs but once they had gone, Lancashire temporarily lost their tight grip on the game.