Yorkshire facing defeat

Yorkshire must dig deep and show some form with the bat at Scarborough if they are to avoid another defeat in the First Division of the County Championship, after Somerset declared their first innings yesterday on 498 for 9.

Yorkshire must dig deep and show some form with the bat at Scarborough if they are to avoid another defeat in the First Division of the County Championship, after Somerset declared their first innings yesterday on 498 for 9.

The loss of the opener Matthew Wood for 18 in reply, after Yorkshire were forced to negotiate a testing last hour, has not made their task any easier. At the close Darren Lehmann's struggling county champions were 46 for 1, 452 runs behind.

It proved another torrid day in the field for Yorkshire after the visitors resumed the day on 299 for 5. Keith Dutch had reached 74 when he was given out leg-before to Richard Dawson, while Rob Turner reached 63 before he was bowled around the legs by Yorkshire's best performer, Ryan Sidebottom.

Elsewhere, Kim Barnett carried his bat for a magnificent 182 not out to help Gloucestershire post 388 in the first innings of their Second Division game with Middlesex at Southgate.

However, the Middlesex openers Andrew Strauss and Sven Koenig put on an unbeaten 98 for the opening partnership in reply to leave the game very much in the balance.

Anurag Singh scored his second championship century of the season with 124 as Worcestershire assumed control of their Second Division match with Essex at Southend. The visitors ended the day on 332 for 6 – a lead of 135 with four first-innings wickets still intact.