Yorkshire Phoenix preserved their 100 per cent winning record in Division One of the CGU National League yesterday with a pulsating victory over Essex Eagles at Chelmsford by three wickets and with just three balls to spare.

For the third consecutive match from the start of the new competition, 20-year-old Gary Fellows came in to help get Yorkshire out of a tight corner and for the third time he succeeded - although on this occasion he did not see it out right to the bitter end.

He was caught for 13 from 11 deliveries off the final ball of the penultimate over from Mark Ilott but by then Yorkshire required only seven to reach their 221 target and rasping boundaries in fading light from top-scorer Matthew Wood and Chris Silverwood saw them home.

Wood was a late selection choice for his first CGU match, being preferred to left-arm spinner Ian Fisher, and he responded magnificently with 48 off 47 balls with seven fours.

Despite an excellent 45 from Michael Vaughan - which sat neatly alongside his two centuries in the championship match at Chelmsford - and a solid 28 from skipper David Byas, Yorkshire seemed to have lost the plot at 169 for five with 52 still wanted from six overs.

Wood, who had survived a return chance to Ashley Cowan, suddenly launched himself at Ilott in an over off which he and Richard Blakey rattled up 17 runs. Five came off the first three balls and then the next three were hammered for off-side boundaries by Wood.

Paul Prichard and Darren Robinson made a desperate attempt to cut off the last one of them in a scissors movement on the boundary edge but the fielders collided heavily and both lay motionless for several seconds. Robinson was eventually able to resume but Prichard had to hobble off with a twisted right knee with Jon Powell substituting.

The sixth wicket pair had put on 39 in five hectic overs when Blakey dragged a ball from Ronnie Irani to the diving Stuart Law at short mid-wicket and it was at this stage that Fellows played out his familiar role of coming in with tension rising and 26 needed off a little under four overs.

Both Wood and Fellows glided the ball around with smoothly struck ground strokes until Fellows drove at Ilott and played straight to Cowan at mid-off, but Wood and Silverwood made sure that the Phoenix keeps on rising.

Byas also maintained his 100 per cent record of winning the toss and Essex were given a sound 66 start by Prichard and Robinson when asked to bat.

The stand was broken when Robinson clipped White to Wood at mid-wicket, but the score still moved on to 100 before Yorkshire gained their second wicket, Prichard cutting Ryan Sidebottom to Vaughan at backward point when one short of his half-century. It was rough justice for Prichard because he had already survived two extremely difficult chances to Byas in that exact area.

Law threatened to cause severe damage until Ryan Sidebottom had him nibbling a catch to Blakey for 22 and the best of the remaining batting came from skipper Irani whose sweetly timed 55 came off 69 balls with five fours.

All of Yorkshire's five bowlers picked up wickets and none did better than Vaughan whose off-spin was needed when Yorkshire gambled by leaving out Fisher. Vaughan responded with nine overs in which he conceded just 36 runs for the wicket of his former Yorkshire colleague, Paul Grayson.

Fisher catches Essex on the hop

Ian Fisher, with a career-best five for 73, sealed Yorkshire's splendid PPP Championship win by 174 runs over Essex at Chelmsford on Saturday but both sides contributed in equal measure to it being a genuinely historic match.

Centuries in each innings by Michael Vaughan for Yorkshire and Stuart Law for Essex made it the first time this double feat has ever been recorded in a championship game involving Yorkshire.

Law completed the statistic with an unbeaten 113 out of Essex's second innings score of 237 but the tough Australian never had enough support to get Essex anywhere near the 412 they had been set.

Yorkshire had 14 overs in hand when they went to their second win of the season in powerful style and Fisher's fine bowling was the best for the county by a left-arm spinner since his predecessor, Richard Stemp, registered six for 77 against the same opponents at Ilford exactly two years' ago.

This was only Fisher's fourth championship match, and his second of the season, and skipper David Byas acknowledged that it would now be almost impossible to leave him out of the side following such a performance.

Never before has a side made 400-plus to beat Yorkshire and the only time it looked as if Essex may give themselves an outside chance of doing just that was when Paul Prichard and Darren Robinson used up 100 minutes in the morning in an opening stand of 63 which was aided by Matthew Hoggard dropping Prichard off his own bowling and Craig White putting down Robinson at backward point.

But three wickets then toppled without addition as Fisher came on to pin Prichard lbw sweeping and bowl Ian Flanagan inbetween Robinson falling lbw to Ryan Sidebottom.

From that point on, nobody but Law was capable of halting Yorkshire's advance and only Mark Ilott stayed with him for any length of time before Byas took a blinding catch at second slip off Chris Silverwood to end an eighth wicket partnership of 58.

Law's only chance came on 88 when he edged Fisher past Byas and he looked in danger of running out of partners before reaching his century when joined by last man Jamie Grove, but boundary shots off Fisher and Silverwood got him there without too much trouble.

Matthew Hoggard returned to force Grove to play into his stumps, leaving Law with 15 fours and a six off the 162 balls he received.

Byas was delighted with this strong performance which forced Yorkshire back into the championship race. "Until now, we have been playing 'catch up' cricket this season but in this game we were doing positive things rather than just talking about them," he said.

"I am thrilled to bits for Ian Fisher, particularly after he took a towelling from Law on the second day, but he fought back wonderfully and thoroughly deserved his final figures.

"Michael Vaughan was also outstanding in compiling a century in each innings, He has aspirations to play for England and I want him to do so and if he goes on making hundreds for Yorkshire they will not be able to ignore him."

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