Tykes ace back to best on return from injury

MICHAEL Vaughan virtually booked his place in the England squad for next week's first Test against the West Indies with a composed piece of batting which brought him an unbeaten half century for Yorkshire at Chester-le-Street yesterday.

In his first Championship match since breaking a bone in his hand five weeks' ago, Vaughan looked completely at ease while making 52 out of 105 for one off a keen Durham attack.

Having scored 155 before retiring hurt against Derbyshire, Vaughan has now knocked up 207 without being dismissed in Championship cricket this season.

Yorkshire were in an outstanding position at the close because they had bowled out Durham for only 189 by the tea interval after putting them in to bat, Matthew Hoggard returning his season's best figures of five for 67.

Hoggard's most menacing spell came early in the afternoon when he picked up two wickets but he will bowl better for less reward than on this occasion when Durham contrived to get themselves out with some careless batting, their last eight wickets toppling for 110 between lunch and tea.

It appeared as if Yorkshire were in for a much harder day as Jon Lewis and Jimmy Daley saw off the new ball pairing of Darren Gough and Hoggard without too much difficulty, but when they had put on 34 together, Paul Hutchison joined the attack and he had Daley lbw in his first over.

Lewis continued to bat confidently whereas Australian Simon Katich took six overs to get off the mark but as soon as Gough returned the left-hander nudged him to wicketkeeper Richard Blakey.

Hutchison was Yorkshire's best bowler at this stage but he received an official warning from umpire John Harris for running on to the pitch and had to take great care not to repeat the offence because he was ordered out of the attack on the ground two years' ago after experiencing similar problems.

Lewis reached a solid half-century after lunch out of 98 for two but in the next over from Hoggard he gave a return catch off a leading edge and from that point on Yorkshire never lost their grip.

The only time their bowlers were inconvenienced was when Martin Speight went on the attack with some forceful shots and the Durham innings would have been brought to a close even more quickly if Speight had not been put down on 15 when he cut at Gough and Vaughan could not cling on diving to his left at gully.

Speight went on to pick up Hoggard for a big legside six and he galloped on to 37 before Vaughan made amends by holding on to his sliced drive off Hoggard at point.

Vaughan showed no signs of ring rustiness as he helped Byas get Yorkshire off to an excellent start and, with the captain also in much better form, they brought the 50 up in 18 overs.

At 59, however, Byas was pinned lbw on the backfoot by Marc Symington and at 75 Vaughan had an escape, being dropped by Paul Collingwood at second slip off Ian Hunter but Vaughan made amends in the following over by hammering Symington for three boundaries.

In the day's final over, Vaughan edged Steve Harmison close to the wicketkeeper but the ball evaded Speight and went for four to take Vaughan to his half-century off 78 balls with seven boundaries.

SCOREBOARD

PPP healthcare County Championship

Division One

Durham v Yorkshire

at Riverside

Yorkshire Won Toss

Durham First Innings

Lewis c & b Hoggard 52

Daley lbw b Hutchison 16

Katich c Blakey b Gough 4

Collingwood c Byas b Hoggard 20

Speak c Byas b Middlebrook 11

Peng c Blakey b Hamilton 9

Speight c Vaughan b Hoggard 37

Hunter c Hamilton b Hoggard 1

Betts c Gough b Hamilton 1

Symington not out 8

Harmison c Blakey b Hoggard 9

Extras b4 lb5 w8 nb4 21

Total (73.5 overs) 189

Fall: 1-34 2-51 3-98 4-103 5-119 6-137 7-158 8-168 9-168

Bowling: Gough 14-2-28-1 Hoggard 21.5-5-67-5 Hamilton 14-2-33-2 Hutchison 13-6-19-1 Middlebrook 11-0-33-1

Yorkshire First Innings

Byas lbw b Symington 29

Vaughan not out 52

Blakey not out 16

Extras lb4 w2 nb2 8

Total 1 wkt (30 overs) 105

Fall: 1-59

Overnight Bowling: Harmison 12-2-26-0 Betts 7-1-20-0 Symington 5-0-32-1 Hunter 6-0-23-0

PPP healthcare County Championship

Division One

(Day 3 of 4)

Liverpool : Lancashire 269 (Flintoff 73, Fairbrother 77; Warne 4-61) v Hampshire 95 (Smethhurst 4-15) and 45-3 (24.5 overs).

Bath: Somerset 295 (Parsons 62, Cox 52; Masters 5-55) v Kent 261 (Dravid 90, Caddick 6-57) and 4-1 (2.2 overs).

(Day 2 of 4)

Derby: Derbyshire 181-9 (47.2 overs, Dowman 69, Cork 35no; Tudor 5-58) v Surrey 138 (Munton 7-34).

Division Two

(Day 3 of 4)

Bristol: Gloucestershire 268 (Windows 107, Snape 54) v Essex 263 (Prichard 96no, Hyam 53, Irani 52) and 22-2 (8 overs).

(Day 2 of 4)

Trent Bridge: Nottinghamshire v Worcestershire 354-7 (104 overs, Hick 122, Leatherdale 96no).

Horsham: Sussex v Middlesex 340-8 (106 overs, Langer 64, Shah 60, Nash 55no).

Vodafone Challenge

Cardiff: Glamorgan 140 (Nagamootoo 4-12) v West Indies 176 (Hinds 105no; Croft 5-26) and 97 (Wharf 4-9).

Tour Match

(1-day)

Clontarf: Ireland 178-7 v Zimbabwe 227-4. Zimbabwe won by 49 runs.