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John Crawley made no excuses after Lancashire's bitterly disappointing NatWest Trophy defeat by Yorkshire at Old Trafford yesterday.

``We were outplayed in every department,'' said the Red Rose captain after a disastrous batting collapse saw his team crumble to a 55 run defeat.

It was a tame way for Lancashire to surrender their grip on the trophy, and also marked their first NatWest defeat in 15 games since 1987.

For once Lancashire's renowned lower order let them down.

They appeared well on course for a target of 264 when Mike Atherton and Neil Fairbrother put on 90 to steer them to 164-2 in the 35th over, needing exactly 100 off the last 15.

``When Fairbrother and Atherton were together, we were scared,'' admitted Yorkshire's Aussie all rounder Greg Blewett - not surprisingly after so many heartbreaking defeats at Old Trafford in recent years.

But Lancahsire then lost their last eight wickets for 44 runs in 64 balls.

The rot started when Fairbrother, who had played superbly to reach his half century from 49 balls, went trying to steer Chris Silverwood to third man off the last ball of that 35th over.

Then Blewett came on and with his first ball bowled Atherton for 61.

There should still have been no big problem with so much batting to come, but in the same over Andy Flintoff was lbw swinging across the line.

And when Warren Hegg was run out after a mix up with Graham Lloyd in the next over, the game was up. Blewett ended with the remarkable figures of 4-18. Yet as Crawley suggested, the fault did not lie purely with the batting.

Lancashire should not have allowed Yorkshire to reach 263, well as they batted on a pitch which made a mockery of all the doubts of the last couple of weeks - at least groundsman Pete Marron was one Lancastrian who emerged with credit.

Craig White, later voted man of the match after taking two wickets with the ball, gave Yorkshire a flying start with 43 from 39 balls, then David Byas and Anthony McGrath hit half centuries in a stand of 111.

Peter Martin and Ian Austin were unable to apply the brakes as usual and Muttiah Muralitharan had figures of 0-50 - a rare let down on the day Lancashire confirmed his new two year contract.

The pick of the Lancashire attack was Glen Chapple with 3-41 but as Crawley added: ``Our fielding was very poor.''

Still, credit to Yorkshire who stay on course for a one day treble with the Benson and Hedges Super Cup final against Gloucestershire at Lord's on Saturday, and a floodlit double header with Lancashire Lightning in the battle for the CGU National League next month.

Lancashire now have a week to lick their wounds before the start of the Championship game at Derby - Murali's last - next Wednesday.

Gary Keedy boosted his claim for a first team recall with 5-56 to spin the second team to an 84 run victory over Durham at Crosby yesterday.