McGrath, third in Yorkshire's first-class averages this term with 424 runs at an average of 32.61 and the top strike-rate of 59.80, missed the defeat at Nottinghamshire after suffering a small tear in his hamstring and is touch and go for the Headingley Carnegie clash.

Should he be fit, he is likely to replace out-of-form Joe Sayers, whose woes continued at Trent Bridge following scores of nine and two – with his first-class average under 10 this term.

Adam Lyth – who blasted his maiden first-class ton at Notts – is favourite to partner Chris Taylor, who hit 48 in the second innings on his "second debut" for Yorkshire at Championship level, at the top of the order if McGrath is passed fit.

Meanwhile, the Tykes are also waiting to see if Naved, who hurt his neck while bowling at Trent Bridge, is fit enough to play.

But skipper Darren Gough – who sat out last week's four-day assignment – should return, according to director of cricket Martyn Moxon.

He said: "Darren should be okay again, but we'll check out Anthony and Rana in practice. Hopefully, both will be fit, but we'll have to wait and see."

Yorkshire are perilously close to the drop zone after three successive LVCC defeats, and defeat to basement-boys Surrey could see the Tykes replace them at the foot of the table.

Yorkshire are just 11 points above tomorrow's opponents, but with just 28 points separating the top seven and back-to-back home games with Surrey and Hampshire coming up, Moxon insists the Tykes have plenty of time in which to battle back into title contention. That hasn't stopped the doom mongerers from circling following three successive first-class defeats.

A big problem has been Yorkshire's brittleness at the top of the order, with six combinations having been tried out without success this term – and a total of nine since last August.

The varying permutations have failed to deliver a stand of 50-plus in Yorkshire's last 30 Championship innings, stretching back 14 months.
On the worrying openers' issue, Moxon said: "I think it has been a feature this season and a problem in all forms of the game.

"When that's the case, it's going to be difficult winning games. You can't rely on the middle-order to always get you out of trouble.
"It'd be nice to have a settled team and a settled top order.

"Unfortunately, at this moment we haven't been able to have that due to injuries, but hopefully once the injuries clear up, we'll see the benefits."

Refusing to write the Tykes out of the title reckoning, he added: "There's seven games left and lots of points are available; and there's not many points between us and the leaders.

"If we can get on a run and win a couple of games, we'll be right back in it.

"These next two games are virtually important, given that both sides are below us and our position in the table.

"Positives came out of the (Notts) game, in terms of individual performances from the players. But the bottom line is we've lost three on the bounce and need to reverse that trend.

"But I'm not massively concerned because we have had opportunities in the three games possibly to go on and win."