Yorkshire's chances of getting back into the Championship race suffered a further blow at Headingley yesterday when their match against Derbyshire ended in a tame draw.

It seemed as if Yorkshire had more than made up for time lost to the weather by making Derbyshire follow on at the start of the final day still 202 runs in arrears.

But hopes of bowling out their opponents soon faded as a lightweight attack was unable to make much impression on a featherbed pitch and the sides settled for a draw with Derbyshire on 245 for five. The one consolation for Yorkshire was that they squeezed 12 points out of the stalemate, so moving themselves up a rung in the table to fourth place, 25.5 points behind Glamorgan who they still have to meet twice.

A potentially tense final day was set up on Saturday when John Blain enjoyed his best return for Yorkshire of four for 38 as Derbyshire were dismissed for 240 off the penultimate ball, but the visitors showed much more resolve second time around and did not give their wickets away easily.

There was an early success for Blain when he removed Andrew Gait lbw in the tenth over with the score on 21 but left-hander Steve Stubbings and Australian John Moss batted throughout the remainder of the morning.

It was not until they had chiselled out 115 together in 38 overs that Yorkshire's eighth bowler, Darren Lehmann, made the breakthrough by bowling Stubbings off an inside edge for 58 from 138 balls with seven boundaries. Another wicket fell when Blain had Hassan Adnan caught low down at second slip by Matthew Wood and the highpoint of the day for Yorkshire came with the running out of Moss for 87 to make Derbyshire 163 for four in 59 overs.

Moss drove to fellow countryman, Lehmann, and desperate to get off what an Australian considers to be his unlucky score he went charging down the pitch for a single but could not beat Lehmann's throw which plucked out the middle stump, the batsman having faced 153 deliveries off which he struck ten fours and a six.

After tea, which came at 172-4, James Bryant fell lbw to Richard Dawson and in the same over Andrew Gale was unable to hold on to a sharp chance offered by Chris Bassano at short leg.

Bassano and captain Luke Sutton experienced few problems in guiding Derbyshire into the lead and then batting out time with an unbroken stand of 55 in 19 overs.

Yorkshire's senior strike bowler, Chris Silverwood, out of action for three weeks with a heel injury, will make his comeback with the Seconds today in their three-day Championship match with Durham at Stamford Bridge.

Silverwood had an injection in his heel towards the end of last week and was able to have a practice bowl yesterday. If he suffers no adverse reaction with the Seconds he could return for the first team in their Championship match against Leicestershire at Grace Road on Thursday.

"Chris needs to have a full work-out over the next few days in order to prove his fitness," said director of cricket, David Byas.