TOMORROW’S one-day match against South Africa A at Headingley should be a good one and very useful for all the Yorkshire lads involved.

I went out there with the Lions a couple of winters ago and we played against their A side.

They had a couple of Test players and other up and coming internationals in their side. They were very strong, and it was probably the best standard of cricket I’ve played to date.

I’m expecting pretty much the same again.

Personally, it would be nice to get some white ball runs.

This game comes at an ideal time for me. I haven’t had a whole heap of cricket over the last month, so it will hopefully help me keep that rhythm of batting ahead of what’s coming up.

These games are the ideal opportunity to give the young lads a taste of high quality first-team cricket in case we were to need them in a big game such as a one-day play-off or semi-final.

On to Championship cricket. If we play as well at Headingley next weekend as we did at Old Trafford, I think we’ll be celebrating a Yorkshire win over Lancashire.

I thought we had the better of the majority of the clash at their place, which finished on Monday.

It was a very placid pitch and would be tough for any team to get 20 wickets on. In the end, it was a stalemate like last year.

I thought they might have made it a bit more seamer friendly with having Jimmy Anderson in their team, though I know it didn’t ultimately work out that way given he was injured early on the first day.

Had we had another 60-odd overs to play with, we would probably have had the time to build a decent lead in our second innings before having a go at bowling them out.

Unfortunately rain on Saturday’s second day saw to that.

We’ll certainly take the positives into Headingley, where the pitch will do a bit more.

With Anderson injured now, it will be interesting to see what they do with their bowling attack.

When you play each other one game after another, you can certainly get a better idea of strengths and weaknesses aligned with current form.

It maybe gives you a little snippet of what Test cricket is like in a two or three-match series.

They rely heavily on their three overseas players in that middle over in Shiv Chanderpaul, Dane Vilas and Ryan McLaren, and they are vital partnerships we will need to break.

I was disappointed to misjudge one early in the first innings from Anderson and get bowled, although it was a decent ball.

I felt in good touch, the pitch was flat as I’ve spoken about, and I was looking forward to a big knock. Unfortunately it didn’t happen.

So to get some runs in the bank – 62 not out – second innings was nice. If you can’t get a hundreds but can still chip in, it all adds up.

I have to admit that I didn’t think before the game that Jack Brooks would be one of our batsmen who would get a hundred. But what a knock.

Brooksy has naturally got a great eye. He hit some beautiful shots, and it was chanceless.

Alongside Jack Leaning, he helped us get up close to 450 having been 170-6, and they are the kind of contributions you need if you are going to win Championships.

I have spoken a bit about the strength of Division One already this year and how tight I think it’s going to be at both ends.

At the bottom, a quarter of the division gets relegated, and there are going to be some good teams who will get dragged into danger.

At the top, it could end up being a lottery to a degree in the last couple of rounds because I can see four teams being involved to win it.

In the early stages of the season, I think the cricket’s been a bit more cagey as a result. But I fully expect that to change as we get into mid-September, especially that final round of matches when teams could be scrabbling around to set up a result.

Like Matthew Fisher earlier this week, I just want to mention the Manchester attacks.

The reality of it being so close to home has hit hard.

There have been a number of people from Yorkshire who have lost their lives, and personally I have family who live in Manchester city centre. It’s a place I visit quite regularly.

I’ve been to see the Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Adele and Anthony Joshua at the Arena in the last year or so, and it’s something you do without a second thought.

The saddest thing was the type of concert it was with a lot of young kids there.

But the quality of the Manchester and British people has shone through, and we’ll stay strong.