With Yorkshire perhaps unwisely having let it slip that they will cut their staff by six at the end of the season, several of the players must be anxiously looking over their shoulders and wondering if the axe will fall on them.

Quite a number are vulnerable, including either of the off-spin pair of Andy Gray and Richard Dawson, who only last winter was battling it out for the Ashes with England in Australia.

Dawson was admired during that torrid series for the gutsy way he willingly took on nightwatchman duties and fearlessly stood up to Australia's withering attack but he only claimed a total of five wickets at 79.60 runs apiece.

Since then he seems to have lost some of his confidence and control and at the moment he is languishing in Yorkshire's second team after six Championship appearances brought him a mere eight wickets, each costing 44 runs.

The Exeter University spinner shot to prominence with England after one reasonable season at county level but to my mind he has yet prove he is a top class bowler and Yorkshire also need convincing because he remains an uncapped player despite his Test status.

Yorkshire are now giving an extended run to his off-spin rival Andy Gray but they are caught on the horns of a dilemma because, like Dawson, he has shown that he is capable of scoring runs but has not yet grabbed many wickets.

The Australian-born slow bowler, who has had spells with Wilberfoss in the York Senior League and Scarborough and Harrogate in the Yorkshire League, was given an extended bowl against Derbyshire last week and he was disappointed to emerge with only one wicket in 50 overs at a cost of 154 runs.

The figures were somewhat misleading, I felt, because he bowled quite well for long periods without having much luck on his side and on a different day he could easily have picked up five or six victims.

Gray is a popular member of the side - as was shown when he was given a prolonged ovation from the dressing room balcony after completing his maiden century against Somerset at Taunton - but he is in exactly the same boat as Dawson with wickets being far more important to him than runs.

The Aussie influence of Darren Lehmann and coach Wayne Clark possibly had something to do with Yorkshire taking on Gray in 2001 in what was a surprise move with Dawson already in the camp.

Neither Gray nor Dawson lack competitive flair and Dawson has already been talked about as having possible captaincy potential at some future stage.

But it is not easy to see both of them staying on with Yorkshire in view of the difficult financial situation and the fact that the staff has got to be pruned.

Which one may go, however, is still far from clear and if only one stays will he be good enough to take a lot of wickets for Yorkshire on a regular basis?

Gray may appear to hold the upper hand just now because he is the one in command of a first team place but unless he comes up with a crop of wickets he may bowl himself out of favour.

That would give another chance to Dawson but if he keeps on being given the cold shoulder it may be impossible for him to re-state his case to cash-strapped Yorkshire.

Whichever one comes out on top, one is bound to ask if either of them is a better off-spinner than either James Middlebrook, who is now with Essex, or Gareth Batty, who is on the threshold of an England career after settling in well with Worcestershire?

Yorkshire have wasted a lot of time and money in recent years in developing spinners only to release them to other grateful counties and they cannot afford to make the same mistake again with either Dawson or Gray.

Updated: 12:09 Saturday, July 12, 2003