Stormy weather in Derby today threatened to wipe out the first day of Yorkshire's PPP Championship clash with Derbyshire.

Torrential rain flooded the area this morning and with little sign of any improvement, Yorkshire seemed to be heading for their first completely blank day of the season.

It is a big disappointment for Yorkshire skipper David Byas and his team, who are riding the crest of a wave.

Conseccutive wins against Essex and Durham have shot Yorkshire into fourth place in the table, but Derbyshire, having got over their off-the-field winter skirmishes, have made a reasonable start themselves.

They have two wins from four matches and although they trail Yorkshire by 14 points they have a game in hand.

Derbyshire had a break from championship cricket last week but in their previous match they beat Northamptonshire by eight wickets, with Australian Michael Slater and Steve Titchard scoring centuries.

The last thing Yorkshire want is another pasting from an Australian after Jamie Cox (Somerset), Justin Langer (Middlesex) and Stuart Law (Essex) have all hit centuries against them this season, Law twice in the match.

The sequence was broken by two failures from David Boon for Durham, but Slater is in prime form with 342 first class runs in seven innings at an average of 57.

What Yorkshire want is a vintage display from their own Australian, Greg Blewett, who has made a miserable start to the season.

Blewett has managed only 240 championship runs in ten innings, with a top score of 73 against Middlesex. In the National League he has scored only 33 runs from four outings.

"Greg has not had the best of luck so far and decisions have not always gone his way but he is such a good batsman that somebody will pay for it before too long," predicted Yorkshire's director of coaching, Martyn Moxon.

Darren Gough and Gavin Hamilton were at Buckingham Palace today with their England and Scotland World Cup team-mates, but they will be back with Yorkshire in a week for the championship game against current leaders Hampshire at Basingstoke.

With Yorkshire's second team not having a fixture this week, Gary Fellows was in the 12 for today's game.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.