Darren Lehmann and Michael Lumb rallied Yorkshire with a sparkling unbroken stand of 137 in only 28 overs at Guildford yesterday to wipe out first innings arrears of 210 against Championship leaders Surrey and put them 44 ahead with seven wickets in hand.

Yorkshire were 254 for three at the close with Lumb on 68 and his captain 55 after two hours of breezy batting together.

There were few signs that Yorkshire were overawed by the task ahead of them when they began their second innings and Matthew Wood at last found some sort of form with the bat during an opening stand of 83 with Vic Craven, the best of the season.

But it was Craven who caught the eye with some beautifully balanced strokes, particularly against the wily Saqlain Mushtaq, and the Harrogate-born left-hander is becoming one of Yorkshire's few success stories this season.

Craven did not flinch when struck on the hand either side of drilling Clarke through the covers for handsome fours but when Wood had reached 43, his highest score of the season, he groped forward at Ed Giddins and became the first of three consecutive victims behind the stumps for Jon Batty.

A stylish cut for four against James Ormond brought Craven his 50 off 100 balls with ten boundaries before Yorkshire suffered a double setback with the score on 117. McGrath looked astonished and aggrieved to be given caught behind off Giddins while Craven blotted his clean copybook by sparring at Ormond.

There was still plenty of time left for Yorkshire to have disintegrated into a two-day defeat but the left-handed combination of Lehmann and Lumb transformed the situation with adventurous strokeplay.

Lehmann had one big slice of luck at 26 when Adam Hollioake was unable to hold on to a full-blooded slash at second slip, otherwise runs flowed with a succession of glorious groundstrokes.

Lumb on this occasion was at least the equal of his captain and he even outscored him, going to his 50 from 68 balls with nine fours in the time that it took Lehmann to make 35.

Lehmann speeded up in the closing stages and in the penultimate over from Ian Salisbury he hammered three boundaries, the second bringing his half-century from 82 balls with nine fours.

Yorkshire started the second day brightly with Hollioake following a ball from Ryan Sidebottom in the left-armer's first over and being caught behind and if Rikki Clarke had not dug out a first-ball yorker then play may have followed a different pattern.

Opener Batty moved on smoothly from his overnight 82 until he was one short of his century when he agonisingly played Silverwood into his off-stump after facing 207 deliveries and finding the gaps with 20 boundaries.

Surrey were 250 for seven and their lead a modest 78 but Clarke suddenly stunned Yorkshire with some ferocious hitting, most of it at the expense of Richard Dawson off whom he for lashed three enormous sixes in as many overs, the last of them clearing high trees behind the mid-wicket boundary and sailing out of the ground.

The precocious 20-year-old all-rounder, whose reputation is soaring with every match, raced to his 50 off only 44 balls with seven fours and three sixes, but on 56 he was undone by an unlikely yorker from McGrath.

The onslaught was not over, however, because Ormond and Saqlain both took up the challenge with Ormond striking big sixes off McGrath and Lehmann while blazing his way to 39 from 22 balls, an innings which also contained six fours.

Saqlain and last man Giddins continued to bother Yorkshire either side of lunch and Saqlain drove David Wigley for a straight six into the sightscreen before becoming Wigley's first victim in first class cricket, caught by Craven at mid-off for 44.

Frizzell County Championship

Division One

(Day 3 of 4)

Surrey v Yorkshire

(at Guildford)

Yorkshire First Innings: 172.

Surrey First Innings

Ward c Blakey b Silverwood 12

Batty b Sidebottom 99

Ramprakash b Silverwood 0

Shahid c Fellows b Sidebottom 45

Brown c Craven b Fellows 50

Salisbury b Fellows 0

Hollioake c Blakey b Sidebottom 5

Clarke b McGrath 56

Mushtaq c Craven b Wigley 44

Ormond c Wood b Silverwood 39

Giddins not out 8

Extras b5 lb7 nb12 24

Total (94.4 overs) 382

Fall: 1-24 2-24 3-101 4-193 5-195 6-215 7-250 8-297 9-351

Bowling: Silverwood 21-5-71-3 Sidebottom 22-7-57-3 Wigley 10.4-0-71-1 McGrath 15-3-55-1 Dawson 12-0-68-0 Fellows 5-1-21-2 Lehmann 9-3-27-0

Yorkshire Second Innings

Wood c Batty b Giddins 43

Craven c Batty b Ormond 56

McGrath c Batty b Giddins 13

Lehmann not out 55

Lumb not out 68

Extras lb5 w2 nb12 19

Total 3 wkts (63 overs) 254

Fall: 1-83 2-117 3-117

Division One

(Grace Road) Leicestershire 131 and 151-0 (Sutcliffe 74no, Ward 66no) v Kent 339 (Key 127)

(Edgbaston) Warwickshire 493 (Knight 234no, Powell 57) v Sussex 237-4 (Cottey 105no, Montgomerie 51)

(Day 2 of 4)

(Rose Bowl) Hampshire 45-2 25ovs v Lancashire 183 (Swann 66; Tremlett 5-68)

Division Two

(Day 3 of 4)

(Riverside) Durham 116 and 184-2 (Lewis 70) 45.1ovs v Nottinghamshire 362 (Afzaal 103no, Gallian 75, Franks 60)

(Chelmsford) Essex 231 v Glamorgan 505-6 (James 235no, Maynard 76) 105ovs

(Cheltenham) Gloucestershire 494 (Hancock 112, Taylor 67, Alleyne 62, Gidman 59no, Windows 55) v Middlesex 218-6 (Shah 65) 69ovs

(Day 2 of 4)

(Northampton) Derbyshire 388 (Gait 175, Bassano 57) v Northamptonshire

Updated: 13:17 Friday, July 26, 2002