Date-stamped : 11 Jun96 - 02:16 11 June 1996 Positive Byas gives Yorkshire favourites` chance By Charles Randall DAVID BYAS, cricket`s best-known farmer-captain, leads Yorkshire into their Benson and Hedges Cup semi-final against Lan- cashire, the holders, at Old Trafford today as favourites in many people`s book. This feeling grew stronger yesterday when it became apparent that John Crawley, Lancashire`s England batsman, could with- draw with a hamstring injury, while Martyn Moxon could probably return from injury to strengthen Yorkshire`s batting. The match will attract the biggest crowd for a Lancashire match in Manchester for 20 years, with only a few hundred tickets left unsold yesterday. At Northampton, one of the smallest capacity grounds on the circuit, a teeming crowd is guaranteed for the visit of Warwickshire for the other semi-final. Byas, a rugged straight-talking character, made his Yorkshire debut in 1986, but he did not play at Lord`s the following year, the last Yorkshire cup final success. The left-hander took several seasons to establish his batting place, but he has made an indelible mark as captain in a matter of months. There is an obvious team spirit at Yorkshire, and no hint of the bickering that held back some of the better Yorkshire sides of the past. His quarter-final 116 in 103 balls against Surrey - the first of three massive defeats inflicted on them in two weeks - was rated by some Yorkshire veterans as of the county`s best one-day innings of all time. At that Byas would only shrug his shoulders, like another day in the fields. In Lancashire, however, Yorkshire have won only once, 1986, in five previous trips over the Pennines in this competition, and in their last visit, the 1991 semi-final, they were thrashed by 68 runs. History has weighed heavily on Yorkshire shoulders, but Byas is changing that. The championship fracas in 1990, when Curtly Ambrose became so riled by Dermot Reeve he bowled three beamers at him, is still held up as evidence of bad feeling. He said yesterday: "People keep referring to last year, the past. I`m looking at what we`re doing now and what we`re intend- ing to do now. I`m not interested in what has happened in the past. "That is the biggest mistake we`ve made as a side. In the past we`ve looked back. It is `now` for us. Now we`re top of the championship, in the semi-finals of the cup and well placed in the Sunday League. "I`m going to approach the Lancashire game in exactly the same way we`ve just done against Surrey. It`s a big game, a massive game, but it`s another game of cricket, isn`t it?" Warwickshire, who have lost four out of 10 one-day games this season, are another side to look forward, though they have had knotty problems with the past against Northamptonshire, espe- cially their recent Sunday League defeat, which was punctuated by niggling incidents. The championship fracas in 1990, when Curtly Ambrose became so riled by Dermot Reeve he bowled three beamers at him, is still held up as evidence of bad feeling. Last year`s championship game was described by Allan Lamb, the Northants captain, as being like a "war". Reeve said yesterday: "Everything that happened a fortnight ago is forgotten. In fact I was disappointed that my name was brought up front because all I was trying to do was mediate and calm things down. "I get on fine with David Capel. We see each other regularly during the winter in Australia and we`ve played together in the Hong Kong Sixes. "We chat together about cricket off the field but on it he`s a very tough competitor. But no matter how hard you play the game on the field you should be friends once the game is over." Northamptonshire, under Rob Bailey, have won all 10 of their com- petitive one-day matches this summer, and their chances should be improved by the absence of Nick Knight, Warwickshire`s England batsman, with a broken finger. Join in the first online cricket interview, with India`s cap- tain Mohammad Azharuddin, to be held on Thursday 20th June at 7.00pm British Summer Time (1800) GMT, for more details see Cricket World Online or CricInfo Source :: Electronic Telegraph (http.//www.telegraph.co.uk) Contributed by Shash (shs2@*.cwru.edu)