Yorkshire's newest Australian recruit, Matthew Elliott, was making his debut in the Roses match at Old Trafford today and was expected to bat at No 3.

Darren Lehmann's replacement arrived in England on Monday and was so keen to get involved that coach Wayne Clark took him straight to Stamford Bridge where Yorkshire Seconds were playing Hampshire in the semi-finals of the Second XI Championship - a game which Yorkshire lost by 60 runs.

"Matthew is really looking forward to playing for Yorkshire and he is in good form because he has had a few innings recently while playing cricket in Darwin where the game goes on during the Australian winter," said Clark.

Elliott arrived at Old Trafford today to see Yorkshire stripped to the bone through a combination of injuries and England's refusal to let either Michael Vaughan or Matthew Hoggard play against Lancashire.

Craig White may have been available because he is not on a central contract but he is nursing a side strain which will keep him out of the third Test between England and India at Headingley next week.

Ryan Sidebottom has gone down with a recurrence of his groin injury but Steven Kirby is included in the squad in the hope that he will have got over his long-standing back problem.

Kirby played for the Academy at the weekend after having an injection on his back and he had a further workout in the nets at Headingley yesterday.

Bradford-born paceman David Wigley, who made his debut at Guildford three weeks ago, is also in the squad of 13, as is 17-year-old seamer Nick Thornicroft from Sheriff Hutton but the Academy graduate is not expected to play.

Richard Blakey captains Yorkshire in Lehmann's absence and he is expected to continue in the job for the remainder of the season.

Clark admitted that unless Yorkshire beat Lancashire they are "goners" as far as avoiding relegation is concerned.

They remain embedded at the foot of the First Division table and if they fail to win the Roses match it means they are bound to go over a year without winning a game since clinching the Championship title at Scarborough on August 24 when they beat Glamorgan by an innings.

Yorkshire have no Championship match next week and they are next in action in the competition on August 27 when they play Hampshire at the Rose Bowl.

Yorkshire from: Taylor, Craven, Elliott, McGrath, Lumb, Fellows, Blakey, Dawson, Silverwood, Gray, Kirby, Wigley, Thornicroft.