Yorkshire saved their crucial LV= County Championship match against Nottinghamshire at Headingley yesterday.

Despite a nervous batting display for the first two sessions of the final day, Andrew Gale’s team can look back on a job well done as they have kept pace with division one’s new leaders.

Notts are now five points clear at the top, and have a game in hand on the Tykes. Yorkshire have played 12 matches, Notts 11.

The rain forecast for the majority of the day only arrived at tea-time with the hosts perilously placed at 406-8 after 153 overs of their second innings, only 39 runs ahead with two wickets and 34 overs remaining.

Jacques Rudolph’s 141 off 241 balls and Anthony McGrath’s 80 off 263 were the innings of substance, although 37 from Gerard Brophy, 34 not out from Adil Rashid and 26 off 116 balls from night-watchman Steve Patterson also proved crucial.

Yorkshire lost six wickets yesterday, McGrath, Gale, Patterson, Jonny Bairstow, Brophy and Ajmal Shahzad all falling.

Ryan Sidebottom and Darren Pattinson both claimed three wickets apiece for the visitors.

Had rain not arrived during the tea break, Yorkshire would have faced a nervous last session of the match.

As it was, the four-and-a-half sessions they batted proved to be sufficient to take five points out of the match instead of two. But it was the 13 points Notts failed to get that are arguably the more important.

A 62-run partnership for the seventh wicket in 21 overs between Rashid and Brophy took Yorkshire into the lead.

The White Rose only scored one boundary during the morning – off the bat of Patterson.

The pace bowler spent just short of two-and-a-half hours at the crease.

Director of professional cricket Martyn Moxon said: “We obviously had a poor first two days, but credit to the lads for fighting back so manfully over the last two days. We got off to a bad start, and we didn’t recover for the next two days.”

Yorkshire now have four matches left. Moxon added: “We will need to win at least two of those four.”

Group ‘A’ leaders Yorkshire travel to Chesterfield tomorrow to face Derbyshire in the Clydesdale Bank 40 competition.

• Yorkshire could face a clash of dates later this season between the one-day international between England and Pakistan at Headingley on Sunday, September 12 and the CB40 semi-finals the previous day.

It would seem unlikely Headingley would be able to host both matches due to England and Pakistan’s need to train the day before.