A SPARKLING 98 from Australian Phil Jaques could not prevent Yorkshire Phoenix from losing by three runs to bottom-of-the-table Surrey Lions in the floodlit totesport League match at Headingley last night.

It was a great effort by Yorkshire, who needed to make 265 for victory and they did well to come so close under far from adequate lighting.

They wanted nine off the last over, which was bowled by left-arm spinner Nayan Doshi, but Ismail Dawood was run out frantically attempting a second and Tim Bresnan was bowled off the last delivery which he needed to hit to the boundary to win the match, Yorkshire closing on 261-7.

After Matthew Wood had been dismissed first ball, Jaques and Michael Lumb put on 93 together before Lumb was caught behind for 56 from 62 deliveries with seven fours and a six but the cool-headed Jaques then settled into a 129 stand with Anthony McGrath.

It ended when Jaques was bowled by Mahmood for 98 from 111 balls with seven fours and a six and when McGrath was run out for 54 the task just became too stiff for Yorkshire.

Surrey set off at a rattling pace after winning the toss with James Benning and Jon Batty putting on 111 for the first wicket, most of the runs coming from powerful boundary shots.

Benning set the tone by carving Deon Kruis's first ball of the match over the slips for four while left-arm paceman David Lucas's first delivery in a competitive game for Yorkshire was cut for four by Batty.

It was a disappointing start for Lucas who also sent down three wides in his opening over and he was later flogged for five boundaries in two overs by Benning, who had hurried on to 72 when he skied Richard Dawson on the legside for Tim Bresnan to the catch.

Bresnan had Batty hitting to mid-wicket after making 40 and Surrey found scoring much harder when McGrath joined Dawson in the attack, Dawson striking with a double wicket maiden as Scott Newman gave him a return catch and Alistair Brown was bowled by a beautifully pitched off-break.

Rikki Clarke had two almost identical escapes early in his innings when both Dawson and McGrath put down return catches and they were costly errors because Clarke went on to rattle up an unbeaten 90 from 71 balls, putting on 99 for the fifth wicket with Mark Ramprakash, who was lbw for 38, sweeping at Bresnan.

Despite their dropped catches, Dawson and McGrath were easily the pick of the bowlers, Dawson taking 3-39 off his nine overs while McGrath was even more economical with 1-34.

l Yorkshire suffered a setback yesterday when they were informed by England that Michael Vaughan would not be allowed to play in Saturday's Cheltenham and Gloucester Trophy quarter-final tie with Northamptonshire at Headingley.

ECB chief medical officer, Dr Peter Gregory, said England needed to ensure there was no further deterioration to the groin strain that kept Vaughan out of two of the matches in the NatWest Series.

Yorkshire will again be captained by Dawson in the absence of Craig White, who has had an injection in his sore knee and hopes to be fit in time for the Championship match against Leicestershire, which starts at Scarborough next Wednesday.

Updated: 11:25 Thursday, July 14, 2005