Ten points from a yawn-inducing draw against Somerset at Taunton on Saturday at least keeps Yorkshire in touch with Championship leaders Surrey who have now opened up an 11-point gap at the top of the table after their crushing defeat of Lancashire.

But with only four rounds of fixtures still to be played, time is running out on Yorkshire whose match against Surrey at Scarborough towards the end of the month could be the decisive factor in who will win the title.

Yorkshire are also anxiously awaiting the outcome of today's surgery on skipper David Byas who tore a cartilage in his right knee while batting at Taunton and left the game on crutches.

Byas, the toughest man in the team, hopes to be fit again in about three weeks time, but his resting up time will not be known until after the operation.

He intended this morning to call in at Hovingham Hall ahead of his benefit game beteen Yorkshire and Sir Marcus Worsley's XI before leaving for hospital.

Darren Lehmann took over the reins from Byas on Saturday and will continue to be in charge until the captain returns, but on a perfect batting pitch he was powerless to do anything to stop Somerset from reaching 368 for three before declaring with a lead of exactly 400 to end the match.

Somerset's fourth wicket pair of Peter Bowler and Keith Parsons took full advantage of the favourable conditions and each hit an unbeaten century in a stand of 227 in 69 overs - a record for the county against Yorkshire for that wicket.

It beat the previous best of 184 by Bill Alley and Geoff Lomax which was set on the same ground in 1961.

By the time the declaration arrived, Bowler had made 139 from 311 balls with a dozen fours while Parsons' 108 was his first Championship century and it came off 185 deliveries with 11 boundaries.

Towards the end of a long and unfulfilling day, Simon Guy marked his Champion-ship debut in a possibly unique way for a wicketkeeper by taking off his pads and bowling four overs.

All in all, it was a memorable match for Guy who richly deserved his five victims behind the stumps as well as making a big impression with a fine innings of 42.

But Yorkshire's trio of senior seam bowlers fared less well overall, persistently bowling too short when they should have been concentrating on length and line instead of trying to bounce batsmen out.