A smouldering 75 not out from Darren Lehmann and a battling 81 from captain David Byas were still insufficient for Yorkshire Phoenix to release the stranglehold imposed on them by Somerset Sabres at Bath yesterday.

Chasing 260 to win, Yorkshire only managed 244 for six and their 15-run defeat was their third consecutive set-back in Division One of the Norwich Union League, making real the threat of relegation.

Although Yorkshire always had plenty of wickets in hand, Somerset bowled and fielded so well that the chase became harder and harder with 114 required off the last ten overs and 63 off five.

Even then Lehmann did not give up and he slammed Richard Johnson for two consecutive leg-side sixes but it was still too tall an order for the Australian to get Yorkshire out of the mire.

He finished with four fours and three sixes in his 67-ball innings, while Byas spent 41 overs making his runs which came off 118 deliveries with seven fours and a six.

The two left-handers put on 103 together in 18 overs before Byas top-edged Steffan Jones to Jamie Grove who took a tumbling catch at third man.

It was a great catch but not as sensational as the one which Keith Dutch took at long on to send back Gary Fellows in Jones's next over.

Running back and falling over he flung out a right hand and somehow held on to a ball which seemed certain to fly past him on its way to the boundary.

Yorkshire had lost their first wicket at 16 when Michael Lumb was caught at slip by Peter Bowler, but Craig White then put on 79 with Byas before being caught at mid-wicket for 39.

Somerset's 259 for seven after being put in was the highest score against Yorkshire in the competition for almost a year and it looked like being even bigger as Bowler and Ian Blackwell flogged 112 in only 15 overs for the fifth wicket.

Opener Bowler, back in the side after completing law examinations at Trent University, left Yorkshire facing charges of reckless bowling as he slammed 97 off 129 balls with ten fours and a six.

Left-hander Blackwell was even more destructive in rattling up 76 from just 54 balls with five fours and four sixes and if the pair had not fallen within 11 runs of each other Somerset could have ended up with a much higher total.

Bowler was denied what would have been a chanceless century when he attempted to glance Gavin Hamilton and Matthew Hoggard took a fine sprawling catch running in from fine leg.

And White snuffed out Black-well's bruising knock by taking a well judged overhead catch off a miscued drive back to the bowler.

Blackwell was at his most violent in one over from left-arm spinner Ian Fisher in which he blasted 18 runs including two sixes as well as a boundary from a misfield.

Fisher, who had earlier dismissed Mark Lathwell through a smart piece of stumping by Richard Blakey, was withdrawn from the firing line with 53 coming off his seven overs, but Hoggard had an even more wretched time, going for 72 off nine to make it one of the most expensive analyses in Yorkshire' county league history.

The England man conceded 30 runs in four overs with the new ball and 42 off his last five, his only consolation being the wicket of Dutch who fell to a skimming catch by Paul Hutchison at point.

In contrast, Hutchison bowled his nine consecutive overs splendidly from the start, being rewarded with three for 26.

Jason Kerr had his off-stump ripped out in Hutchison's first over, while Piran Holloway and Johnson perished with mistimed drives to deep mid-off. No-one else bowled with similar accuracy, however, and Yorkshire paid the price.

scoreboard

Somerset Sabres v Yorkshire Phoenix

(at Bath)

Yorkshire Phoenix Won Toss

Somerset Sabres Innings

Bowler c Hoggard b Hamilton 97

Kerr b Hutchison 5

Holloway c Byas b Hutchison 11

Johnson c Hamilton b Hutchison 1

Lathwell st Blakey b Fisher 27

Blackwell c & b White 76

Burns not out 12

Dutch c Hutchison b Hoggard 1

Turner not out 13

Extras lb5 w1 nb10 16

Total 7 wkts Innings Complete (45 overs) 259

Fall: 1-14 2-45 3-52 4-110 5-222 6-233 7-235

Did not bat: Jones, Grove.

Bowling: Hoggard 9-0-72-1, Hutchison 9-1-26-3, White 9-1-41-1, Hamilton 8-0-42-1, Fisher 7-0-53-1, Fellows 3-0-20-0.

Yorkshire Phoenix Innings

Byas c Grove b Jones 81

Lumb c Bowler b Jones 9

White c Dutch b Kerr 39

Lehmann not out 75

Fellows c Dutch b Jones 6

Blakey b Jones 1

Craven c Turner b Johnson 11

Hamilton not out 0

Extras b1 lb11 w10 22

Total 6 wkts (45 overs) 244

Fall: 1-16 2-95 3-198 4-225 5-228 6-242

Did not bat: Fisher, Hoggard, Hutchison.

Bowling: Johnson 9-1-50-1, Jones 9-0-40-4, Grove 9-0-49-0, Kerr 9-1-56-1, Dutch 6-0-25-0, Blackwell 3-0-12-0.

Umpires: N G Cowley and R Palmer.

Somerset Sabres (4pts) beat Yorkshire Phoenix (0pts)by 15 runs