Yorkshire and Surrey chucked the regulations out of the window yesterday when they agreed to play their rain-hit Cheltenham and Gloucester Trophy semi-final match at Headingley tomorrow instead of deciding it on a bowl-out yesterday.

The unprecedented deal was clinched after Yorkshire officials and umpires John Hampshire and Barry Dudlestone had been involved in two hours of talks with Lord's, who allowed the teams to ignore the rulebook.

And both sides will be able to include their centrally contracted Test players, which means that Yorkshire fans will be able to see Michael Vaughan and Matthew Hoggard in action, as well as England all-rounder Craig White, who is no longer under contract. The semi-final tie will start at 10.45 am.

The decision was taken 'in the best interests of cricket' after hours of confusion during a day in which the rain continued to pour down.

There was even talk of moving the match lock, stock and barrel to Edgbaston at some stage yesterday but the logistics of this proved impossible.

Neither team wanted to go through a bowl-out in such an important match as a semi-final, but in agreeing to the game being played on Sunday the ECB have set an amazing precedent.

The rules clearly state that if a ten-overs game has not been completed by the end of the third day then the result shall be decided either by a bowl-out or on the toss of a coin.

But the fans will certainly not be complaining if the weather is fine tomorrow and they see a great match. If it rains again, however, then the bowl-out will definitely take place.

Anybody who has already bought a ticket but cannot attend will be given a refund.

The agreed arrangement poses a bigger headache for Surrey than Yorkshire.

While the Tykes today were staging a Norwich Union League game against Nottinghamshire at Headingley, Surrey had to travel back to London last night for their match in the same competition with Northants. As soon as that is finished they will have to return to Leeds.

Yorkshire captain Darren Lehmann said: "We now have a tight schedule with three one-day matches in three days but a semi-final is a very big game, particularly for two clubs with such great traditions as Yorkshire and Surrey.

"The regulations may have been broken but the game has to move forward and I think the ECB has done the right thing.

"All rules have to be changed at some time.

"It was important to both sides that the England players would be made available and we always rely a great deal upon ours."

Lehmann said he would never have agreed to play the game away from Headingley yesterday.

"It would have been madness and I would have said so," he added.

Umpire Hampshire, the former Yorkshire and England batsman, said: "Myself and Barry Dudlestone suggested the idea after talks in the dressing rooms.

"When we spoke to Lord's about it they were very reluctant to take it on board at first but they eventually came round to agreeing it was a good idea.

"It always struck us as being better to have a game of cricket if at all possible and the teams agreed but insisted that it was on the proviso that the England players would be available."

Surrey coach Keith Medlycott said: "The decision is great for the sides and the fans. The best team on the day will get to the final and that is how it should be."

Yorkshire chief executive Chris Hassell said that the club had been in constant touch with weathermen John Kettley and Paul Hudson, who had been advising them.

ECB chief executive Tim Lamb said: "We had some misgivings about playing the game on another day but bearing in mind the final is not due to be played for another four weeks we had some flexibility."

For today's game with Nottinghamshire Outlaws, Yorkshire bring in Vic Craven and Tim Bresnan and they are also able to include White.

On Monday, Yorkshire meet Durham Dynamos under the Headingley floodlights when their England players will be unavailable.

Updated: 10:29 Saturday, August 03, 2002