YORKSHIRE beat Durham by six wickets at Chester-le-Street yesterday to go top of the Championship table, but what should have been a gentle stroll to victory turned into a much harder day's work which also included a highly charged incident.

An appeal for lbw against Durham's top-scorer, Martin Speight, was rejected by umpire Graham Burgess who then wagged his finger at Darren Lehmann who was fielding at mid-wicket and had probably directed some choice remarks at the batsman.

Speight came out of his crease to take a huge swipe at the next delivery from off-spinner James Middlebrook and was stumped with Burgess immediately taking up his quarrel with the Australian again.

Burgess, looking extremely aggravated, got into a close conversation with Lehmann as other players gathered around and while this was going on umpire John Harris took Yorkshire captain David Byas to one side and had words with him.

But during the tea interval, the umpires refused to expand on what had happened and all that Harris would say was that they would not be reporting the incident which seemed surprising in view of its intensity.

Byas also did not wish to comment but he gave the impression that it was not a serious matter.

Rain delayed an eager Yorkshire from getting on with it in the morning and there was a 55 minute hold-up before Durham were able to resume their second innings on 94 for five and still 11 runs in arrears.

Darren Gough got Yorkshire off to the best possible start by having Nick Peng caught behind in his first over but then James Middlebrook dropped a sitter at first slip off Matthew Hoggard to give new batsman Speight a life before he had scored.

Speight's first run also came from a snick through the unpoliced second slip area and Yorkshire became increasingly desperate as Nick Symington, no mean bat despite his role of nightwatchman, helped Speight add 72 in 29 overs.

The stand was broken when Gough returned, and in his first over Symington hooked to long leg where Vic Craven, briefly on the field as substitute for Gavin Hamilton, calmly held the catch.

Speight's response was to drive Middlebrook high and straight for six but it was a rush of blood which finally brought his downfall, probably brought on by what was going on around him.

Durham's gutsy fightback was almost over and when Gough pinned Melvyn Betts lbw it gave him season-best figures of six for 63, although he did not bowl as well as on the previous day, pitching too short and conceding ten no-balls.

The sledging had the effect of firing up Durham as Yorkshire chased 97 to win and Steve Harmison and Betts came out with all guns blazing, Betts striking twice in his first five overs.

He dismissed Byas lbw and at 22 he plucked Michael Vaughan's off-stump clean out of the ground.

Had Richard Blakey been caught at first slip by Simon Katich off Harmison with the score unchanged, Yorkshire would have been in real difficulties, but Blakey and Lehmann safely negotiated murky light until Lehmann tried to steer Ian Hunter to third man and lobbed a catch to Katich.

Blakey made his experience count as he calmly took control and Yorkshire were almost home and dry when Matthew Wood was bowled off his pads by Paul Collingwood.

It had been much harder than Yorkshire had expected and they even had to claim the extra half hour in order to give themselves a day off today.

SCOREBOARD

PPP healthcare County Championship

Division One

Durham v Yorkshire

(at Riverside, final day of four)

Durham first innings: 189 (73.5 overs) (Lewis 52, Hoggard 5-67).

Yorkshire first innings: 294 (Vaughan 94, Lehmann 79, Hunter 4-73).

Durham Second Innings

Lewis c Blakey b Gough 0

Daley c Vaughan b Hamilton 10

Katich b Gough 5

Collingwood lbw b Hamilton 16

Speak lbw b Gough 32

Peng c Blakey b Gough 12

Symington c Sub b Gough 36

Speight st Blakey b Middlebrook 44

Hunter c Blakey b Hutchison 3

Betts lbw b Gough 5

Harmison not out 0

Extras b8 lb8 w2 nb20 38

Total (81.2 overs) 201

Fall: 1-0 2-14 3-24 4-35 5-79 6-96 7-168 8-190 9-201

Bowling: Gough 26.2-5-63-6 Hoggard 20-7-37-0 Hamilton 12-4-33-2 Hutchison 7-3-20-1 Middlebrook 16-4-32-1.

Yorkshire Second Innings

Byas lbw b Betts 6

Vaughan b Betts 7

Blakey not out 34

Lehmann c Katich b Hunter 20

Wood b Collingwood 12

Fellows not out 7

Extras b5 lb6 11

Total 4 wkts (45.3 overs) 97

Fall: 1-11 2-22 3-53 4-84

Did Not Bat: G M Hamilton, J D Middlebrook, D Gough, M J Hoggard, P M Hutchison.

Bowling: Harmison 14-4-27-0 Betts 13-3-30-2 Hunter 7-2-11-1 Collingwood 7.3-1-12-1 Symington 4-1-6-0

Yorkshire (17pts) bt Durham (3pts) by 6 wkts.

Division One

Derby: Surrey 138 (Munton 7-34) & 218 (Brown 75), Derbyshire 191 (Dowman 69, Tudor 5-64, Bicknell 4-75) & 167-3 (Di Venuto 92no).

Derbyshire (15pts) bt Surrey (3pts) by 7 wkts.

Bath (last day): Kent 261 (Dravid 90, Caddick 6-57) & 223 (Walker 61, Caddick 4-40), Somerset 295 (Parsons 62, Cox 52, Holloway 50, Masters 5-55) & 193-8.

Somerset (17pts) bt Kent (5pts) by 2 wkts.

PPP Healthcare County Championship Division One

P W L D Bt Bl Pts

Yorkshire 5 3 0 2 14 15 73

Lancashire 6 3 0 3 11 13 72

Leicestershire 6 1 1 4 16 13 57

Somerset 5 2 1 2 11 11 54

Surrey 6 1 2 3 10 11 45

Derbyshire 6 1 1 4 7 16 43

Kent) 5 1 1 3 2 13 39

Durham 5 1 3 1 4 15 35

Hampshire 6 0 4 2 3 18 29 *Derbyshire have been deducted 8 pts

Division Two

Trent Bridge (last day): Worcestershire 402 (Hick 122, Leatherdale 117, Millns 4-92) & 292-7 dec (Solanki 80, Wiilson 54, RK Illingworth 44no), Nottinghamshire 313 (Afzaal 151no, McGrath 7-82) & 13-0 (9 overs).

Nottinghamshire with all second innings remaining need 369 runs to beat Worcestershire.