YORKSHIRE discard James Middlebrook made sure his former county were relegated from Division One of the National League at Chelmsford last night with a defiant 46 not out for Essex Eagles.

It enabled the Eagles to beat Phoenix by four wickets with seven balls remaining in the 44-over contest.

Chasing Yorkshire's 174 on a difficult batting pitch, Essex looked a beaten side at 61-5 but then Middlebrook came in and put on 88 in 18 overs with Mark Pettini to alter the course of the match.

Pettini hooked Anthony McGrath for six as the pair assumed control but the real turning point came when Vic Craven joined the attack with his medium pacers and was hammered for 22 in just two overs, Middlebrook whacking him high over the extra cover fence.

Yorkshire began to crumble under pressure and Pettini survived a stumping chance off Richard Dawson while Matthew Hoggard made a complete hash of his attempt at a catch when the same batsman hooked Darren Gough to long leg.

Pettini was finally caught by Matthew Wood at deep square leg for 59 but Graham Napier supported Middlebrook in the victory dash as they knocked off the remaining 28 runs in under four overs.

Even Gough's unconcealed fury at not having been included in England's one-day squad for the tours of Bangladesh and Sri Lanka could bring Yorkshire the win they so desperately needed to keep alive their hopes of avoiding the drop.

Having spoken of his bitter disappointment not to be making the trips, Gough weighed in with Yorkshire's top score of 33 - his best in the competition for nine years - and he went on to dismiss Essex opener Andy Flower without scoring and then take a great catch at long on to get rid of James Foster.

But Yorkshire gradually let the game slip as Pettini and Middlebrook settled in, despite some superb bowling from Ryan Sidebottom, who enjoyed an opening spell of 5-2-9-2.

Put into bat, Yorkshire struggled to survive on a pitch which suited both seam and spin and it was their later batsmen who came to the rescue after the first four wickets had gone down for 65 in 18 overs.

Medium-pacer Andy Clarke, who has been told by Essex he must perform in order to get a new contract, responded by returning career-best figures of four for 28 but Division One's leading wicket-taker, Napier, also posed problems while taking 2-23, and Middlebrook had the satisfaction of bowling fellow slow bowler Dawson round his legs with one which turned sharply outside off-stump.

The slide began in the fourth over when Wood sliced a drive at Napier to third man where 38-year-old John Stephenson belied his years by dashing and leaping to his right to hold a brilliant catch and after Craig White had waited until the ninth over to collect the first two boundaries he chased a wide one from the same bowler and was caught behind.

Clarke produced one which straightened to find the edge of McGrath's bat and Michael Lumb paid the penalty for attempting a lazy single to Mohammad Akram at mid-on and being run out by a direct hit.

Craven and Gavin Hamilton rallied Yorkshire with a 40 stand in seven overs before both were bowled by Clarke and it was left to Richard Blakey and Gough to stage another recovery with a 47 stand in 11 overs for the eighth wicket.

Blakey, who was run out for 30 off the final ball, survived a sharp slip chance to Flower on eight, while Gough reined himself in sensibly and his only big hit came when he struck Middlebrook for a glorious straight six.

It was in trying to hook another six, however, that Gough mistimed his shot and lobbed a simple catch to Flower, his 33 off 41 deliveries being his highest county league score since making 39 against Surrey at Scarborough in September, 1994.

Updated: 11:19 Thursday, September 11, 2003