Yorkshire came out of their CricInfo County Championship match against Somerset at Bath with far more credit than seemed likely after they had inserted their opponents on the first morning and seen them pile up 553 for five declared on a featherbed pitch.

They responded with 589 for five before declaring to end the game but the ten points they took from the match actually increased their lead at the top of the Division One table by three points to 27 - and the gap would have been even wider if second-placed Surrey had not been saved by the weather against Essex at Ilford.

Skipper David Byas had been determined to play positive cricket on Saturday in a bid to beat Somerset but torrential morning rain scuppered that plan.

With play not resuming until 2.15pm and further time then lost to more showers there was little Yorkshire could do except pile further runs on to their overnight score of 425 for four.

They succeeded so well that their final total was the highest they have ever made against Somerset, beating the previous best of 549 for nine declared at Taunton in 1905.

With Somerset captain Jamie Cox off the field with a broken thumb, stand-in skipper Mike Burns gave everyone a bowl as the game meandered to a close and it was meat and drink for Darren Lehmann and Richard Blakey who added an unbroken 159 for the sixth wicket off 43 overs.

Lehmann finished on 187 from 276 balls with 24 fours and a six while Blakey's 78 off 139 deliveries with 11 boundaries was his best score since making a century against Glamorgan at Headingley in the penultimate match of the 1999 season.

Although Somerset's bowling could have been played with a broom handle, neither batsman ever resorted to slogging and it was a sign of Yorkshire's new harder approach that all they wanted to do was pile on the agony without risking silly dismissals.

Lehmann even gave the impression that against such bowling he did not wish to pass his previous best score for Yorkshire of 200 against Worcestershire, an innings compiled in more demanding circumstances.

The only wicket to fall was that of Gary Fellows, who departed early on when he swiped at Richard Johnson and was caught at short mid-wicket by substitute fielder Ian Blackwell to equal his best score of 63. His runs came from 112 balls and included seven boundaries.

Fellows was out at 430 in the 121st over and once 130 overs had been bowled and Somerset had been unable to pick up a second batting bonus point the joke bowlers came on.

scoreboard

CricInfo County Championshiop

Division One

Somerset v Yorkshire

(at Bath)

Somerset First Innings: 553-5dec (Burns 221, Lathwell 98no).

Yorkshire First Innings

Richardson b Dutch 68

Wood b Johnson 124

White c Lathwell b Dutch 16

Lehmann not out 187

Byas c Turner b Jones 20

Fellows c Sub b Johnson 63

Blakey not out 78

Extras b4 lb9 w2 nb18 33

Total 5 wkts (164 overs) 589

Fall: 1-179 2-217 3-228 4-281 5-430

Did Not Bat: G M Hamilton, J D Middlebrook, S P Kirby, M J Hoggard.

Bowling: Johnson 35-3-110-2 Jones 30-6-104-1 Trego 12-3-57-0 Kerr 22-6-66-0 Burns 13-0-60-0 Dutch 24-6-64-2 Wood 7-1-30-0 Lathwell 7-0-37-0 Holloway 4-0-19-0 Turner 10-3-29-0.

Somerset (10pts) drew with Yorkshire (10pts)