After making it through the group stages of the Benson and Hedges Cup - despite yesterday's wretched showing in the Roses match - Yorkshire have been drawn to meet Essex at Chelmsford in the quarter finals on either May 21 or 22.

And Lancashire's reward for mowing down Yorkshire and qualifying themselves is a visit to Grace Road to take on Leicestershire.

Although David Byas is not a man to crow, he could barely conceal his delight after his new county Lancashire had pulled off the easiest win imaginable on his first return to Headingley.

The real reason why Byas quit Yorkshire was because he was no longer wanted as captain but the side looked a shambles yesterday under the combined influence of the two Australians, skipper Darren Lehmann and coach Wayne Clark.

When I asked Byas if he had ever been involved in such a bad Yorkshire performance, he replied quickly: "That is not for me to say."

But when asked if he had any sympathy for Yorkshire, he snapped back "No".

In an understatement of the truth, Byas said it had been a fairly straight forward win for Lancashire and he had enjoyed the match.

"I thought the reception I got from the crowd was pretty warm and it was a pleasure to be back," he said. "I am absolutely thrilled that we are going home early with both points in the bag but what is going on in the Yorkshire dressing room right now is up to them and nothing to do with me."

Lehmann eventually emerged to admit it had been a comprehensive win for Lancashire. "We were outplayed in all departments and I am disappointed for the crowd more than anything else," he said.

Although Lehmann appeared to be limping at times, he said he had no injury problem and the reason he had batted at No 7 was to give players like Anthony McGrath and Gary Fellows a chance.

"It wasn't a perfect one-day wicket but we shouldn't have been bowled out for 81. Perhaps having qualified took away some of the pressure and we eased our foot off the pedal too much but this shouldn't happen in a Roses match."

Meanwhile, Darren Gough had his first serious bowl yesterday and he will play for Yorkshire Seconds in the three-day match against Derbyshire Seconds starting at Stamford Bridge tomorrow if he comes through another workout in the nets today.

Updated: 08:51 Tuesday, May 07, 2002