Martyn Moxon will at least have some idea of what it is like to play at Sharjah, although his Yorkshire players will step into the unknown today for their third place play-off game against neighbours Lancashire in the Pro ARCH Trophy.

Yorkshire’s director of professional cricket played two one-day internationals for England at the famous old ground in March 1985.

But exactly how much information Moxon will be able to pass on remains to be seen, as he was out for a second ball duck against Australia before hitting just 11 against Pakistan two days later.

“It is 25 years ago since I played there, but I have been back with Durham a couple times,” he said.

“The wicket will be a little bit slower than we have been used to, there is not much grass on the pitch at all.

“It is just going to be rolled earth, but it will still be a good pitch. It is quite an old stadium, and there has not been too much investment in it of late.”

As a result of conditions at the ground where Yorkshire have not played a game yet, Moxon has named two spinners in his 12-man squad to face Lancashire.

David Wainwright and Azeem Rafiq should make the cut, but Michael Vaughan and Matthew Hoggard are out with a neck injury and illness respectively.

“Obviously it would have been nice to have been in the final, but the second best is playing Lancashire in the third-placed play-off,” continued Moxon.

“It is a game that we are going into wanting to win it.

“I think that it is important that we getting into the winning habit as soon as possible. This tour has been about getting cricket for everybody.

“It’s getting the balance between getting the practice and wanting to win.”

Lancashire have an identical Pro ARCH Trophy record to Yorkshire, having won two and lost one of their three group games. They hammered the Fly Emirates XI by 214 runs on Monday, bowling them out for just 48 in 22 overs.

Moxon added: “They have played in a different group to us here, so we have not seen them in this pre-season. But they have got some good players.”

Yorkshire’s 12-man squad v Lancashire: Gale, Sayers, Taylor, McGrath (c), Brophy (wk), Hodgson, Bresnan, Wainwright, Patterson, Kruis, Lee, Rafiq.