Yorkshire decide against appeal

Yorkshire decided not to appeal against the eight-point penalty imposed on Thursday night after the Scarborough pitch for their clash with Surrey came under fire. Spokesman Geoff Cope said: ``We have to accept some of the findings of the pitch panel but we do feel we have been unlucky considering Scarborough's good record over the past five years.''

County champions elect Surrey were held up by rain yesterday as they sought to push for the victory they need over Yorkshire to tighten their grip on a second title in successive years. Adam Hollioake's team had reasons to rue the untimely showers. The Londoners had Yorkshire on the rack, with a lead of 251 in the bag and 53 for two on the board in their second innings at the scheduled start of day three in the Division One clash. But rain prevented Surrey from rubbing much salt into Yorkshire's wounds, and there was time between the showers only for the visitors to reach 89 for three. Hollioake himself was the man to go, to the bowling of Chris Silverwood while Mark Butcher was on 49 not out at stumps.

Meanwhile, Durham managed to advance from their overnight score of 104 for one into 246 for four before the rain closed in on day two of their relegation clash with Hampshire at Riverside. New captain Jon Lewis was bowled by Shane Warne for 70, while Australian Simon Katich could add only 10 to the unbeaten 50 he had at start of play before Dimitri Mascarenhas dismissed him. Veteran seamer Peter Hartley then got rid of Paul Collingwood, but an unbroken stand of 74 followed for the fifth wicket between Martin Speight (36 no) and Jimmy Daley (31 no).

The first day of the crucial match between Somerset and Leicestershire lasted just three balls between the showers at Taunton. But that was one ball too many for the former England opener Mark Lathwell, who edged Phillip DeFreitas into the hands of wicketkeeper Neil Burns to leave Somerset on nought for one.

Rain also restricted play badly in Division Two where all four matches entered the third day. But the wet weather did not stop Nottinghamshire seam bowler Andrew Harris from bagging another three wickets to finish with figures of six for 110 against Sussex, whose first innings closed on 287 after overnight centurion Richard Montgomerie had been dismissed by Paul Franks for 129. Notts thus got a first innings lead of 64, and home captain Jason Gallian (82 no) quickly set about consolidating the position to help his team reach 177 for three by close of play.

Off-spinner Jason Brown and paceman Darren Cousins took four wickets each to keep Northamptonshire in charge of their match against Gloucestershire at Wantage Road. Opener Dominic Hewson managed to add only nine to his overnight 36 before becoming another victim for Brown, and only Jack Russell (40) put up some fight thereafter as the visitors' first innings subsided to 186 all out to concede a lead of 283. Following on, Hewson and Tim Hancock's opening partnership remained intact till close with their team on 15 without loss.

Dominic Ostler (88) managed to prosper despite a disjointed day's play in the game between Warwickshire and Worcestershire at Edgbaston. Ostler and Anurag Singh (42 no) steered the Bears to a first-innings lead of 104 as they closed on 367 for five. Earlier, Glenn McGrath added the wickets of centurion Mark Wagh (130) and David Hemp to that of Michael Powell on Thursday.

Glamorgan youngster Ian Thomas (82) helped his team reach 507 for nine declared and a first-innings lead of 215 over Essex at Southend. Essex were in trouble before the close as they lost the wickets of Paul Grayson, Paul Prichard and Will Jefferson for 75 to be heading for defeat.