JONNY Bairstow has pulled no punches in assessing Yorkshire’s performances in the first half of this season’s NatWest T20 Blast campaign ahead of tonight’s blockbuster clash with Lancashire.

The England limited overs star accepts the Vikings have not been good enough in claiming only three wins from their eight North Division matches.

Bairstow was particularly critical of his and his team-mates’ performance in only securing a tie against Leicestershire at Grace Road last Friday in pursuit of 143.

They failed to get five off the last over, and now their hopes of success are realistically on the line when they travel across the Pennines to a sold out Emirates Old Trafford.

“We're not playing well enough, simple as,” said the wicketkeeper-batsman, who scored 37 off 22 balls against the Foxes before being bowled by Ben Raine at a critical stage in the chase.

“Lancashire is going to be a tough game, we know that.

“But we need to sort ourselves out in this competition because we've got a wealth of experience and talent in our squad, and we're not applying ourselves well enough with the bat.

“That's what we need to do, and hopefully we will go out and do it.”

Although Yorkshire did not lose at Grace Road, it had the feeling of being the low point of their competition so far - on a par with their home defeat against Northamptonshire. It was certainly one point lost rather than one gained.

“Without a doubt,” agreed Bairstow. “You should be knocking 140 off every time. It was a fast outfield, and there's no excuses. We should have knocked off that total in 17 overs.”

Yorkshire and Lancashire have been involved in some cracking Twenty20 matches down the years, with the two most recent meetings being last over thrillers.

Last year, Yorkshire rode on Aaron Finch’s blistering 88 to chase down 180 in the last over, with Bairstow hitting an important 19 not out at the death before Rich Pyrah hit the winning six.

And last month, a superb unbeaten 71 from England wicketkeeper Jos Buttler, unavailable tonight, saw Lancashire home off the last ball chasing 186.

“Roses games are always good,” added Bairstow. “Tell me a bad Roses game in the last five to ten years. There isn’t one. This one will not be any different.”

Yorkshire are without Adil Rashid because of his England Test call-up for next week’s Ashes opener at Cardiff, so spinners James Middlebrook and Karl Carver are included in a 14-man squad.