YORKSHIRE'S progress was interrupted at New Road yesterday by a defiant innings from Worcestershire's acting captain Gareth Batty.

The Bradford-born all-rounder's brave knock of 57 helped take them to 345 all out.

Batty, leading Worcestershire while Vikram Solanki is with the England one-day squad, came to the crease at 187-5 after three wickets had tumbled for nine runs in four overs, and he calmly took charge.

He took a liking to fellow off-spinner Richard Dawson getting off the mark with a big six over mid-wicket and adding two more on his way to his half-century off only 55 balls.

But for Batty's intervention, Yorkshire might well have completed their fightback which came after Steven Davies and Stephen Moore had justified Worcestershire's decision to bat first by rattling up 98 in 20 overs for the first wicket.

The stand was dominated by the 19-year-old Davies who punished Deon Kruis for bowling too short and raced to his maiden 50 from 53 balls but he then fell for 59 in a fine second spell from Matthew Hoggard.

The England paceman, in his last Championship outing before the Ashes series, dug one in and Davies edged a fast two-handed catch to Matthew Wood at second slip.

Hoggard then had Graeme Hick snapped up by Wood to register his 200th first class victim for Yorkshire.

Moore put on 58 with Ben Smith to take Worcestershire to 178-2, before he was out caught behind for 74 off Dawson.

Kruis, exploiting uneven bounce from the New Road end, flattened Zander de Bruin's leg-stump and Smith departed when he edged Dawson and was beautifully caught left-handed at slip by Phil Jaques.

Batty joined Daryl Mitchell in reviving sixth wicket stand of 60.

Mitchell eventually went to an unpleasant ball from Hoggard which reared up and deflected into Ismail Dawood's gloves but Batty found another reliable partner in Kabir Ali and they had taken Worcestershire to 302 with a 55 stand when Batty sliced a forcing shot at Kruis to Dawson at backward point.

The last three wickets were lost to reckless strokes, James Pipe becoming Richard Pyrah's first Championship victim when he pulled him to Dawson on the mid-wicket boundary and Matt Mason hooking Tim Bresnan to long leg where Hoggard stooped to pluck up a catch near his boots.

The innings was wrapped up when Kabir Ali skied Bresnan to Wood for 57, Yorkshire being quite happy to deny Worcestershire a further two batting points.

Wood and Jaques saw out the final nine overs to leave Yorkshire on 28 without loss and they ended the day much happier than just before the start when Ian Harvey had to drop out with a strained neck, Pyrah coming in for his first game of the season.

Updated: 10:24 Saturday, July 09, 2005