YORKSHIRE beat Durham by 30 runs at Headingley yesterday but then had an agonising wait before discovering that they had scraped through to the quarter-finals of the Benson and Hedges Cup with their reward being a visit to Taunton to take on Somerset.

Their aggregate run rate of plus 0.04 was good enough for them to finish third in their group after winning three of their matches and losing the other two.

Yorkshire skipper David Byas was clearly relieved to have made it into the last eight and also happy to take on Somerset.

"It is a good pitch at Taunton and it should be a high-scoring match," he said.

"We have got through by the skin of our teeth so we will certainly be giving everything in a bid to get through to the semi-finals."

Once again, Yorkshire were indebted to a lavish display of batting from Darren Lehmann who picked up his third gold award in eight days for his thunderous 88 off just 76 balls with 11 fours and two sixes.

The Australian tweaked a hamstring during his innings and did not take the field as a precautionary measure but he is confident of being fit for tomorrow's Championship clash with Somerset at Headingley.

Lehmann's mighty effort propelled Yorkshire to 257 for seven and at first glance it might appear strange that Durham should close on 227 for four with six wickets still in reserve.

But they knew that if they managed to make 195 they were guaranteed to finish above Yorkshire in the table and automatically qualify for the quarter-finals.

That was what they set their sights on and they batted with plenty of good common-sense to reach their target which they managed with four overs to spare and insufficient time remaining to attempt to win the match.

Durham's success does great credit to their new coach Martyn Moxon who left Headingley for Riverside in the New Year.

Yorkshire may have found their path to the quarter-finals much more difficult had Lehmann not survived a difficult chance to wicketkeeper Andrew Pratt when he was only 15. It was his only mistake and he went on to inflict heavy punishment on Danny Law and Steve Harmison, blasting Law for three fours in an over to sail past his 50 before lashing Harmison for two fours and an astonishing cover-driven six with consecutive blows.

David Byas and Michael Vaughan got Yorkshire off to a 71 start before both fell to Ian Hunter but the biggest stand of the innings came from Anthony McGrath and Lehmann who added 115 for the third wicket, McGrath's 43 including a beautifully-timed drive for six.

Durham suffered a serious setback when Jimmy Daley had to retire hurt with a hamstring injury after putting on 44 with his opening partner, Michael Gough, but they never became rattled by the blow.

Paul Collingwood hit a confident 27 before becoming one of three victims for Vaughan who also saw two catches put down on the boundary edge.

Gough, dropped once, was finally caught on the edge off Vaughan for 58 from 99 balls with five fours, but the only time Durham looked vulnerable was when the off-spinner had Nicky Peng stumped down the legside at 126 for four.

They were soon stabilised by skipper Jon Lewis and Law who added an unbroken 101 for the fifth wicket, nobody suffering more than Darren Gough who went for 51 in his ten overs without taking a wicket.

SCOREBOARD

Benson and Hedges CupNorth Section

Yorkshire v Durham

at Headingley

Yorkshire Innings

Byas b Hunter 39

Vaughan c Gough b Hunter 26

McGrath c Hunter b Harmison 43

Lehmann c Collingwood b Law 88

White c Pratt b Brinkley 14

Lumb b Hunter 20

Fellows b Hunter 8

Blakey not out 1

Silverwood not out 2

Extras b1 lb4 w5 nb6 pens 0 16

Total 7 wkts Innings Complete (50 overs) 257

Fall: 1-71 2-78 3-192 4-217 5-238 6-249 7-254

Did not bat: D Gough, R J Sidebottom.

Bowling: Harmison 10-1-50-1; Brinkley 10-1-45-1; Hunter 10-0-48-4; Law 10-0-58-1; Collingwood 7-0-27-0; Gough 3-0-24-0.

Durham Innings

Daley retd hurt 14

Gough c Fellows b Vaughan 58

Speight c Blakey b White 7

Collingwood c & b Vaughan 27

Lewis not out 45

Peng st Blakey b Vaughan 3

Law not out 57

Extras b3 lb6 w3 nb4 pens 0 16

Total 4 wkts (50 overs) 227

Fall: 1-63 2-112 3-114 4-126

Did not bat: A Pratt, I D Hunter, J E Brinkley, S J Harmison.

Bowling: Gough 10-0-51-0; Silverwood 10-1-39-0; Sidebottom 10-2-35-0; White 10-1-42-1; Vaughan 10-0-51-3.

Yorkshire beat Durham by 30 runs

Updated: 12:36 Tuesday, May 08, 2001