CRAIG White showed he is back to full fitness and form with a faultless century against Derbyshire at the County ground yesterday when Michael Lumb also stood out with a splendid 93.

The pair set a new Yorkshire record of 195 for the fifth wicket in matches between the two counties, beating by four runs the previous best by Len Hutton and Cyril Turner at Bramall Lane in 1937.

White remained unbeaten on 102 at the close when Yorkshire were handily placed at 314-7, despite being severely tested by paceman Graeme Welch, who finished with 5-74 off 33 overs.

Few batsmen can match the style or strokeplay of either Lumb or White when on this form and their fluency and calmness under pressure rescued Yorkshire from a difficult 78-4 after they had been put in to bat on a pitch softened by the recent heavy rain.

Lumb showed the wisdom of short-listing him for a place at the England Academy at Loughborough later this year with a display which combined patience and aggression in equal measure and his only false shot came on 63 when he edged a drive at Welch and Dominic Cork dropped a straightforward chance at first slip.

White made it clear from the start that he is still a class batsman as he worked the ball into the gaps on his way to his first significant score of the season in any competition after returning to the side following his rib operation.

Between lunch and tea the pair put on 126 together and it was immediately after a five-over break for rain when Lumb got out without adding to his 93.

He skied a mistimed pull at Welch and was caught by Mohammad Kaif running in from cover point after facing 281 balls and striking 15 boundaries.

Simon Guy and Andy Gray both became victims of Welch but White just had time to complete his century with an imperious cover drive which brought him his 16th boundary off his 167th ball.

There was seam and swing for Derbyshire's pacemen at the start of the day and Matthew Wood and Stephen Fleming applied themselves sensibly albeit slowly until Fleming was forced on the back foot and pinned lbw by Welch.

Wood survived an eventful first over from Cork in which he was dropped at gully and then appeared to be caught behind but, after being given not out, the batsman indicated that the ball had grazed the bails without removing them.

Yuvraj Singh registered another failure by falling lbw to Cork and, after batting patiently for 35 in 33 overs, Wood got a big top edge on a pull at Welch and all Christopher Bassano had to do was wait for the ball to come down.

Richard Blakey, also out of touch with the bat, was lbw to Welch before he had scored, leaving the recovery in the more than capable hands of Lumb and White.

Updated: 10:40 Thursday, July 03, 2003