Lancashire make progress after hefty rain delay.

Rain washed out the first two sessions at Headingley.

Lancashire closed on 87-2 on the first day of their Roses encounter at Headingley as persistent rain restricted the visitors to just 28 overs after Yorkshire had won the toss and elected to bowl first.

Paul Horton finished unbeaten on 48 as he and Luis Reece shared an opening partnership worth 70 to guide Lancashire towards a highly respectable start in this fixture, but late wickets halted their progress in testing conditions.

Yorkshire have only beaten Lancashire once in Championship cricket since 2001 and this run of form continued when play finally got underway at 4.45. Horton and Reece had previously failed to register a stand worth 50 runs or more this season but the openers eliminated any threat from Ryan Sidebottom and Jack Brooks to surpass this milestone.

This was also the first time this season that Yorkshire had conceded 50 runs for the opening stand and the Lancashire openers continued to play with confidence in to the latter stages of the evening session.

Reece (23) looked to be a rejuvenated figure at the crease after scoring a century against Loughborough in midweek and Horton's experience proved to be crucial for the visitors. But their defiance eventually came to an end after several near misses when Reece attempted a pull shot, only to find Sidebottom on the boundary, as the introduction of Liam Plunkett (1-21) yielded Yorkshire their first wicket of the match.

Karl Brown (3) was hoping to replicate his limited overs success against Derbyshire in Championship cricket, but his 28-ball stay at the crease resulted in him being trapped LBW by Tim Bresnan (1-17), who became available to play for Yorkshire today after he was released by the England squad.

At 86-2, Lancashire's impressive start had been somewhat reduced, but Horton and Ashwell Prince (0*) were able to face the remaining overs unscathed, as the visitors closed in a respectable position.