Yorkshire are likely to be docked eight points if it is found they have prepared a poor pitch for their Championship match against Kent which went into its third day at Headingley today.

Pitch inspector A C Smith carried out a close examination of the pitch this morning after he had been called in following the fall of 16 wickets yesterday.

Smith also spoke to umpires John Hampshire and Peter Willey and had a meeting with Yorkshire chief executive Chris Hassell before watching play from various parts of the ground to form his own opinion on how the pitch was playing.

He is expected to reach his decision before leaving Headingley and Yorkshire were preparing for the worst.

They had a visit from pitch inspector Mike Denness during the game against Hampshire earlier in the season but no action was taken on that occasion.

Kent captain Matthew Fleming had made no complaint about the pitch but he said: "It is not a good pitch because the scores would not have been so low if it had been but I have played on worse.

"Perhaps the groundsman has produced the best pitch he could in the circumstances."

Kent resumed their second innings today on 36 for three with a lead of only 16 and they should have lost a wicket in the first over from Matthew Hoggard when opener Robert Key edged to second slip where David Byas put down a fairly easy catch.

In his following over, Hoggard came close to dismising Key again but this time the ball fell just short of Byas.

It had become more essential than ever for Yorkshire to win the game because if they lose and have eight points deducted they will finish up with five fewer points than they went into the match with.

In a frenzied start to the day yesterday, Kent lost their last three wickets for only two runs with Ryan Sidebottom bowling the stubborn Rahul Dravid for 46 to give him career-best figures of five for 27.

Michael Vaughan was still dashing back from Edgbaston where he was unwanted by England while Kent were subsiding and in his absence James Middlebrook was promoted to open the innings with Byas.

Middlebrook was not overawed by his promotion and he helped to build a pretty solid foundation which did not start to crumble until he was third out at 84, lbw to Mark Ealham.

Byas had earlier been caught behind driving down the wrong line at David Masters and Richard Blakey's useful knock was ended when he was run out by Masters' direct hit from backward point.

Matthew Wood was caught first ball in the slips by Dravid to bring in Vaughan at 84 for four and he did not have to play at Ealham's hat-trick attempt.

Darren Lehmann started well, and his first four, off Fleming to the cover boundary, took him beyond 3,000 Championship runs in only his 50th innings, at an average of around 60.

However, he was out for 28 when casually cutting at Masters into Paul Nixon's gloves, and when Vaughan was caught behind off one which kept low, Yorkshire had fallen to 99 for six.

All four of Kent's pace quartet bowled well and after Martin Saggers had dismissed Gary Fellows and Gavin Hamilton, it was left to Chris Silverwood to nudge Yorkshire in front during a 21 stand for the ninth wicket with Sidebottom who contributed a single in 15 overs before being lbw to Fleming who polished off Hoggard in the same over.

Kent were quickly in trouble as Lehmann at mid-wicket pounced on a firm clip from David Fulton off Hoggard and they were still behind when a fine delivery from Silverwood found the inside edge of Dravid's bat.

Sidebottom trapped Alan Wells but Key and Matthew Walker stubbornly denied Yorkshire any further successes, Key holding out for 111 minutes for his ten runs.

SCOREBOARD

Yorkshire v Kent

at Headingley (Day 3 of 4)

Yorkshire Won Toss

Kent First Innings: 129 (75.2 overs, Dravid 46, Fleming 29; Sidebottom 18.2-8-27-5)

Yorkshire First Innings

Byas c Nixon b Masters 14

Middlebrook lbw b Ealham 18

Blakey run out 22

Lehmann c Nixon b Masters 28

Wood c Dravid b Ealham 0

Vaughan c Nixon b Fleming 9

Fellows c Patel b Saggers 13

Hamilton not out 11

Silverwood not out 23

Sidebottom lbw b Fleming 1

Hoggard lbw b Fleming 0

Extras lb3 3

Total (68 overs) 149

Fall: 1-21 2-54 3-84 4-84 5-88 6-99 7-117 8-128 9-149

Bowling: Ealham 19-6-41-2 Saggers 17-4-35-2 Masters 13-5-33-2 Fleming 16-6-37-3 Patel 3-3-0-0.

Kent Second Innings

Fulton c Lehmann b Hoggard 1

Key c Lehmann b Hoggard 12

Dravid c Blakey b Silverwood 6

Wells lbw b Sidebottom 7

Walker not out 14

Ealham not out 0

Extras b4 nb2 6

Total for 4 wickets (35.2 overs) 46

Fall: 1-1 2-12 3-25 4-46