Yorkshire lined themselves up for victory over Northamptonshire at Headingley yesterday, despite rain reducing play to just 23 deliveries after the action-packed morning session.

Excellent bowling by the four seamers left Northants reeling on 115 for seven with an overall lead of only 68 and if it stays dry today then Yorkshire should not be long before they are celebrating their second successive Championship win.

Northamptonshire had a new wicketkeeper in their team when play resumed on the third day, 'Riki' Wessels, the 19-year-old son of the county's coach, Kepler, being called up to replace Gerard Brophy who broke a finger on Saturday while standing up to the stumps to Bilal Shafayat.

The game was finely balanced with Northants on nine without loss in their second innings and trailing by only 38, but Yorkshire tilted the scales very much their way by grabbing seven wickets during the morning session while 97 were being added.

Australian Martin Love went to the second ball of the day from Deon Kruis which found the edge on its way through to Ismail Dawood but a stand then developed between Shafayat and Usman Afzaal which took the score to 54 before Afzaal could not resist hooking at Kruis only to see Matthew Hoggard perfectly positioned for the catch at long leg.

In the next over, Afzaal followed one which left him from Hoggard and was caught at second slip by Matthew Wood and the procession back to the pavilion continued as Tim Bresnan was rewarded for an excellent spell by sending Robert White's off-stump spinning out of the ground and trimming David Sales' off-bail with an away swinger.

Ben Phillips nudged Ian Harvey to Dawood and in the next over Damien Wright carved Bresnan to Anthony McGrath at third man. Northants tramped in to lunch on 106 for seven but only three runs had been added after the interval when a storm prevented any further play until after tea.

On the resumption a further two overs were possible before the rain returned again.

Phil Jaques was Yorkshire's batting hero in the first innings with a sparkling knock of 176 off 254 balls with 24 fours and a six and he was admirably supported by Dawood in a sixth wicket stand of 115 in 28 overs, Dawood going on to make 51 from 112 deliveries with five fours, his first half century of the season.

Yet the day really belonged to Northants' Australian all-rounder, Wright, who not only bowled England captain, Michael Vaughan, for 12, but went on to finish with the season's best bowling figures in Championship cricket of eight for 60.

It was the first eight wicket haul by a Northamptonshire bowler since Darren Cousins grabbed eight for 102 against Yorkshire at Headingley in 2001 and the best on the ground since Paul Newman claimed eight for 29 for Derbyshire in 1988.

* The Scottish Saltires slumped to a dismal 93-run totesport League defeat as Kent Spitfires hardly needed to get out of first gear at the Citylets Grange, Edinburgh, last night.

Half-centuries from Martin van Jaarsveld and man-of-the-match Darren Stevens, who also picked up a personal best five-wicket haul, hoisted the Kent total to 227 for six after they had looked vulnerable on 70 for three.

However, the tally proved more than enough against a Saltires batting line-up which produced a spectacular batting collapse to match the one which saw them taken apart by Worcestershire in the C&G Trophy last week.

There was little hint of the mayhem to follow as openers Dougie Lockhart and Fraser Watts put on 32 for the first wicket.

Lockhart, though, looked hopelessly out of touch in making just two runs in 11 overs.

When he fell to Martin Saggers, Watts soon followed, trapped in front by Amjad Khan after making a fluent 27.

Jon Beukes smashed four thumping boundaries before he too fell to a cheap dismissal, bowled by Stevens who went on to enjoy a field day.

He also accounted for Colin Smith, Yasir Arafat, Majid Haq and top scorer Ryan Watson as the Saltires slumped from a promising 81 for three to 120 for nine.

The Saltires were eventually bowled out for 134.

Watson was the pick of the home batsmen with a typically pugnacious 31 before he skied a catch to Khan.

Earlier the Saltires had raised hopes of a home win as the county batsmen struggled for supremacy.

Geraint Jones was trapped in front early on by the impressive Paul Hoffmann for just 18 as the England wicketkeeper again failed as a makeshift opener.

He was quickly followed by colleague Robert Key who had struck three boundaries before falling to a superb catch by Colin Smith.

And the Spitfires were in a spot of bother on 70 for three when Matt Walker was run out by Watts.

However, half-centuries from South African van Jaarsveld and the hard-hitting Stevens put the visitors back on course.