Bess takes seven as Surrey, Yorkshire play out Scarborough stalemate

Surrey maintained their one-point lead over Nottinghamshire at the top of the Division One table but Yorkshire are back in the bottom two after both counties dotted the i's and crossed the t's on a high-scoring Rothesay County Championship draw at Scarborough today.

Unbeaten champions Surrey's seventh draw in 10 games yielded 14 bonus points and gives them a slender advantage with four rounds remaining having replied to a first-innings 517 for six declared with 537 all out shortly after lunch.

Yorkshire, meanwhile, have slipped back into the second relegation place with their fourth draw. This yielded 13 points. Essex jumped above them with victory at Sussex. However, Durham are now firmly in the dogfight having lost to Somerset.

Before a ball was bowled on day four, a draw was inevitable. Surrey started on 338 for four and went on to gain three more batting points, with Josh Blake's 72 off 112 balls representing his maiden first-class fifty in his third game. When the players shook hands at 5.25pm, Yorkshire were 120 for five in their second innings.

Yorkshire captain Jonny Bairstow was absent after his partner Megan went into labour at 5am this morning. Dom Bess took on the captaincy and returned a season's best seven for 162 with his off-spin.

Given the high-scoring nature of this weather-affected game, it was a surprise that Yorkshire all-rounder Matthew Revis was the only man to post a hundred - 110 not out in the first innings.

Blake, 26, advanced from 10 overnight and was more poise and invention than powerful.

Just before lunch, he was the sixth man in the match out in the seventies when stumped by substitute wicketkeeper Harry Duke off Adam Lyth's part-time off-spin.

New-ball seamer Jack White had Ryan Patel caught at mid-off for 92 during the opening stages of the day before Blake shared a sixth-wicket stand of 90 with Jordan Clark.

That was key in helping impressive Surrey claim the maximum five batting bonus points.

Surrey travel to face Durham next week and Yorkshire host Sussex here.

The White Rose will head into that fixture seven points adrift of third-bottom Durham and eight behind Essex.

Either side of Blake's dismissal - 462 for seven late in the morning - Bess had Clark caught at deep midwicket on the slog sweep for 39 and Jamie Overton bowled.

During the early afternoon, he had Sai Kishore caught and bowled and then Dan Worrall stumped.

The latter shared a 10th-wicket stand of 50 with Matthew Fisher, who finished 38 not out against his former county.

Yorkshire started their second innings 20 runs in arrears with a minimum of 57 overs remaining.

Up until the end of Surrey's first innings, every single batter across both sides reached double figures.

Surrey have had all 11 batters pass double figures in an innings for the second time against Yorkshire this season. It has only happened to the White Rose on three occasions in Championship history.

The first batter not to post a double-figure score was Yorkshire opener Fin Bean, who edged Indian Kishore's left-arm to slip on one with the score 15 for one.

Overton took a superb one-handed catch diving low to his left.

All five Yorkshire wickets fell to spin either side of tea on a pitch now offering assistance.

Dan Lawrence played his part in three of the last four.

His spin had the other opener Lyth caught at slip by Overton for 34 before being the catcher for the next two as Yorkshire fell to 81 for four.

James Wharton was caught at silly point off Kishore for 25 and Will Luxton at leg-slip off Will Jacks.

When Jacks trapped Matthew Revis lbw offering no shot on the back foot, Yorkshire were 108 for five but still safe.