Yorkshire found an ally in the weather yesterday as they continued their bid to go through a whole Championship season without a defeat for the first time since 1928.

And they will have achieved their objective if they can hold out today on the final day of their encounter with Northamptonshire at Northampton.

But the odds are still weighed heavily against them because they resumed on 101-4, still wanting 198 runs to avoid the innings defeat.

Things looked grim for Yorkshire when they were due to embark on the third day on 22-1 and 277 runs behind.

But just before the starting time light rain caused a 45-minute delay and after 18 overs had been bowled more general rain had the players off until conditions improved sufficiently to restart at 4.45pm.

In the morning's second over, Yorkshire lost Matthew Wood who nudged Monty Panesar to Damien Wright at second slip, and it became 43-3 when nightwatchman Mark Lawson edged the left-arm spinner to Martin Love at second slip.

Anthony McGrath and Michael Lumb survived until the rain returned at 55-3 and on the resumption Lumb off-drove Panesar's first ball for four.

Neither Panesar, nor off-spinner Jason Brown, disturbed the fourth-wicket pair too much until Panesar changed ends and McGrath, who had made a gritty 30, gave Love another slip catch.

Panesar had claimed all four wickets to fall but Lumb remained defiant and much will depend upon him settling in again if Yorkshire are to save the match.

And Yorkshire can theoretically still pip Roses rivals Lancashire for the title after Lancashire missed the chance to secure the division two title after losing an Old Trafford nail-biter by four runs to Leicestershire.

The Red Rose county required only 175 for the victory which would have put them beyond the reach of Yorkshire but they came up short as young prospect Stuart Broad took 3-49.

James Anderson, who took four second-innings wickets for 45, and Mal Loye, who was suffering from back spasms and could barely walk, were the last-wicket partners as Leicestershire claimed an unlikely success.

Lancashire had earlier bowled the visitors out for 200, as only skipper HD Ackerman distinguished himself with 67.

CRICKET SCOREBOARD

Frizzell County Championship

(Last day of 4 today)

Division Two

Northamptonshire v Yorkshire

(at Northampton)

Yorkshire First Innings: 177 (White 51; Panesar 5-32, Brown 5-65).

Northamptonshire First Innings: 467 (Usman Afzaal 157, Crook 97, Love 95; Kruis 5-75).

Yorkshire Second Innings

Wood c Wright b Panesar 13

Sayers st Wessels b Panesar 6

Lawson c Love b Panesar 3

McGrath c Love b Panesar 30

Lumb not out 31

Guy not out 0

Extras b4 lb14 18

Total 4 wkts (59 overs) 101

Fall: 1-19 2-22 3-43 4-101

Bowling: Wright 5-2-8-0 Louw 3-2-5-0 Brown 26-11-23-0 Panesar 24-10-39-4 S P Crook 1-0-8-0.

Old Trafford: Leicestershire 165 (Chapple 5-22) and 200 (Ackerman 67) v Lancashire 191 (Maunders 4-28) and 170. Leics (17) beat Lans (3) by four runs.

Taunton: Somerset 259 (Hildreth 84; White 4-47) and 173-2 (Francis 107no) v Derbyshire 707-7 dec (Hassan Adnan 191, Stubbings 151, Welch 99no).

New Road: Essex 574 (Jefferson 116, Irani 99, Ten Doeschate 98; Wedge 5-112) v Worcestershire 424-3 (Moore 191, Smith 154no).

Division One

The Rose Bowl: Hampshire 714-5 dec (Crawley 311no, Mascarenhas 103no) v Nottinghamshire 213 and 313 (Bicknell 97, Read 63; Udal 4-70). Hants (22 points) beat Notts (2) by an innings and 188 runs.

The Brit Oval: Middlesex 404-5 dec (84.1 ov; Styris 100no, Joyce 90, Hutton 79) v Surrey 607-4 (Ramprakash 242no, Mahmood 167no).

Hove: Kent 257 (O'Brien 61; Kirtley 4-53) and 238 v Sussex 348 (Ahmed 90no) and 151-2 (Hopkinson 57). Sussex (20) beat Kent (5) by eight wickets.

Edgbaston: Warwickshire 208 (Troughton 84; Bandara 4-67, Kirby 3-23) and 320-9 dec (Knight 94, Troughton 57) v Gloucestershire 118 (Carter 4-30) and 97-2.

Updated: 09:08 Saturday, September 24, 2005