YORKSHIRE were twice knocked over by a Breese at Scarborough yesterday as a shock Championship defeat loomed against bottom-of-the-table Durham.

And another cloud hanging over their heads for a while was the appearance of ECB pitch liaison officer Mike Denness, who had been called in after umpires Peter Willey and George Sharp had reported to Lord's that the North Marine Road pitch had taken spin on the first day.

Denness monitored yesterday's play closely before announcing that no further action was to be taken, a decision which came as a huge relief to Yorkshire.

Had Denness felt the need to convene a meeting of the ECB Pitches Panel, Yorkshire could have been docked eight points if they had been found guilty of preparing a 'poor' pitch.

But Denness said: "I am happy with what I have seen here and have informed Yorkshire and the umpires of that.

"There was nothing wrong with the preparation of the pitch which was fine and the surface has never been broken."

Yorkshire's director of cricket Geoff Cope said: "I feel the correct decision has been taken. The odd ball turned on the first day, particularly from Richard Dawson, but the other spinners haven't seemed to deviate it much."

On the field, Yorkshire watched their relatively strong position disappear in the space of the final hour before lunch when Durham off-spinner Gareth Breese sliced his way through the batting by snatching five wickets in the space of 41 balls at a cost of 18 runs.

West Indian Breese came in at the interval with career-best Championship figures of 5-41 as Yorkshire slumped from 120-1 to 200 all out to give Durham a first innings lead of 125.

Then Yorkshire had the wind put up them again by Breese in the afternoon and evening when he strengthened Durham's position still further by top scoring with 68 to put his side in complete command.

Breese came in with Durham on 109-3 with an overall lead of of 234 and this increased rapidly as he helped Australian Marcus North add 94 in 19 overs before North fell lbw to Steve Kirby for 62 off 105 balls with six fours and two sixes.

Breese by then had reached his own half-century with a big six off Richard Dawson, who earlier in his spell had suddenly been presented with his county cap by captain Matthew Wood - a move predicted in Wednesday's Evening Press.

Yorkshire continued to see their promotion chances slip away as Gavin Hamilton settled in against his former team-mates while Breese stayed in control until Mark Lawson began a new spell by having him caught behind after facing 82 balls and striking nine fours and a six.

Hamilton was unbeaten on 28 at the close when Durham were 253-5 and their overall lead had been stretched to an invincible 378.

Apart from the capping of Dawson, the only other consolation for Yorkshire on a grim day was the batting of Joe Sayers, who completed his maiden Champion-ship half-century before becoming the first of Breese's five victims.

Updated: 09:52 Friday, September 03, 2004