Yorkshire virtually waved goodbye to any chance of advancing to the quarter-finals of the Twenty-20 Cup competition when they lost by six wickets to Nottinghamshire at Headingley yesterday to register their third consecutive defeat.

They must now concentrate hard on beating Durham at Riverside tonight and then Leicestershire at Grace Road on Wednesday to be certain of avoiding the North Division wooden spoon which they currently hold from last year.

Chasing a 181 target, Nottinghamshire eventually got there with just two balls to spare but it wasn't until the last over or two that Yorkshire looked as if they had any chance of winning.

With England saying that Matthew Hoggard should not play in the final three Twenty20 matches, Yorkshire brought in Joe Sayers for his competition debut and they also gave a second game to 19-year-old leg-spinner, Mark Lawson, rather than bringing back opening batsman, Matthew Wood.

Sayers scored only 12 batting in the middle order but Lawson could not be faulted and he claimed two wickets for 34 runs. Off-spinner, Richard Dawson, was the pick of the bowlers, and he conceded only 22 runs to hold Nottinghamshire in check for a while.

The game could not have started more badly for Yorkshire who lost Ian Harvey to the first ball of the match as he sliced Andy Harris to David Alleyne on the third man boundary.

White and Phil Jaques soon repaired the early damage with some positive batting and the runs started to gush as Jaques top-edged a hook at Harris for six and drove him for four through extra cover.

Both batsmen continued to call the shots and 64 had been taken off seven overs when Yorkshire-born, Gareth Clough, came on and White was neatly stumped by Chris Read off his first ball which was a legside wide.

Michael Lumb failed yet again to make any impression but Jaques continued to bat strongly, thrashing 55 off 33 deliveries with three fours and four sixes before he surrendered quite tamely by gently hitting Clough to Greg Smith at mid-wicket.

When Anthony McGrath and Sayers departed in consecutive overs, Yorkshire were 133 for six in 16 overs and losing some of their momentum but they were well served by Richard Pyrah, who thumped 31 from 17 balls with five fours and put on 41 for the seventh wicket with Tim Bresnan.

Things looked ominous for Yorkshire when Will Smith struck Harvey for four and six in the first over and there was harsh treatment for White when he joined the attack as Smith blasted him over mid-wicket for six to raise the 50 in the fifth over.

Graeme Swann cut loose himself by slamming McGrath for two sixes and a four in an over that cost 18 and it needed the spin combination of Dawson and Lawson to quieten down Nottinghamshire for a while.

The openers made it a century stand in the eighth over but then man-of-the-match Swann tried a fourth reverse sweep at Dawson and was caught for 62 from just 25 balls with three sixes and nine fours.

Notts were 101 for one and a further 33 were added before Smith was caught on the long on boundary off Lawson for 55 from 40 deliveries with seven fours and two sixes.

David Hussey was also out driving hard at Lawson and Notts began to get worried when Clough was lbw to a yorker from Bresnan.

Harvey and Bresnan kept it tight and Notts wanted nine from the last over which White rightly decided to bowl himself but his first ball was put into the crowd by Read who levelled the scores with a two and then drove the winning boundary.

* Riki Wessels plundered 24 off a single Simon Francis over to lead Northamptonshire to a five-wicket Twenty20 Cup win over Somerset at Taunton.

The game was in the balance until Francis conceded 27 in all from the 17th over of Northants' reply to the home side's 189 for five, in which skipper Graeme Smith made 105 and Matt Wood 54. Wessels finished unbeaten on 49 from 22 deliveries.