England strike bowler Matthew Hoggard suffered the most expensive analysis in Twenty20 Cup cricket as Yorkshire went down by five wickets to Lancashire in their opening match of the tournament at Headingley yesterday.

Hoggard was flogged for 65 runs from his four overs which was two runs worse than James Kirtley's return for Sussex against Surrey at Hove last year.

Lancashire opener Mal Loye did most of the damage by thrashing four fours and three sixes off Hoggard's first two overs to put his side well on course for reaching their 166 target which they hit with 19 balls to spare.

Although it was a disappointing start for Yorkshire, it was still a magnificent evening of cricket, played out in front of a near capacity crowd of 14,119. Gate receipts of £68,000 from the paying customers had club officials rubbing their hands with joy.

Put in to bat, Yorkshire lost a wicket in the first over, Michael Lumb being caught at the third attempt in the slips off James Anderson, but Australian left-hander Phil Jaques soon had the fans roaring their delight with some powerful shots.

Jaques charged to 50 off only 23 balls by smashing Glen Chapple high over mid-wicket for six and it needed the introduction of spin wizard Muttiah Muralitharan to quieten things down a bit.

After galloping to 72 from 40 balls with six fours and four sixes, Jaques attempted a reverse sweep at man-of-the-match Brad Hodge and scooped a simple catch to Andy Crook to make Yorkshire 101-5.

Craig White was out first ball and Matthew Wood soon followed as three wickets went down for four runs in three overs and it was left to Richard Pyrah to make the score respectable with an unbeaten 33 from 27 balls with three fours and a six.

Loye cracked Hoggard's first ball of the Lancashire reply to the cover boundary and wafted his second over long on for six. In a remarkable over which conceded 17 runs, Hoggard also had Stuart Law caught by Pyrah off a free-hit before the same batsman edged to Ismail Dawood.

Hoggard's next over began with Loye sweeping him for six and then smashing him for three fours and another six for the bowler to be temporarily withdrawn from the fray after two overs had cost him 41 runs, 36 of them to Loye.

The introduction of off-spinner Richard Dawson slowed down Lancashire even though Hodge drove him for an enormous six and the score was 100 in the tenth over when Loye thumped Dawson to Wood on the mid-wicket boundary and was out for 58 from 33 balls with seven fours and three sixes.

Hoggard returned at 112-3 to bowl Dominic Cork but he suffered again as Hodge helped himself to consecutive boundaries on his way to his half-century and he finished unbeaten on 64 from 45 balls with nine fours and a six.

Now Yorkshire need to regroup and recover their poise in time for their visit to Trent Bridge where they meet Nottinghamshire on Sunday.

Twenty20 Northern Division

Yorkshire Phoenix v Lancashire Lightning

(at Headingley)

Lancashire Lightning won toss

Yorkshire Phoenix

Harvey c Muralitharan b Chapple 10

Lumb c Law b Anderson 0

Jaques c Chapple b Hodge 72

McGrath c Loye b Chapple 1

Wood c Hegg b Hodge 24

White c Hodge b A R Crook 0

Pyrah not out 33

Dawood c Loye b Muralitharan 5

Bresnan not out 14

Extras lb3 w3 6

Total 7 wkts (20 overs) 165

Fall: 1-5 2-42 3-55 4-108 5-108 6-112 7-124.

Did not bat: R K J Dawson, M J Hoggard.

Bowling: Anderson 4-0-35-1 Chapple 4-0-51-2 Muralitharan 4-0-23-1 Hodge 4-0-28-2 A R Crook 4-0-25-1.

Lancashire Lightning

Loye c Wood b Dawson 59

Law c Dawood b Hoggard 3

Hodge not out 64

Crook c Hoggard b Dawson 4

Cork b Hoggard 5

Crook st Dawood b Harvey 14

Chilton not out 4

Extras lb1 w10 nb2 13

Total 5 wkts (16.5 overs) 166

Fall: 1-17 2-100 3-107 4-120 5-161.

Did not bat: G Chapple, M Muralitharan, W K Hegg, J M Anderson.

Bowling: Hoggard 4-0-65-2 Bresnan 3-0-18-0 Harvey 2.5-0-29-1 Dawson 4-0-27-2 White 2-0-16-0 McGrath 1-0-10-0.

Lancashire (2pts) beat Yorkshire (0) by 5 wkts

Updated: 11:22 Thursday, June 23, 2005