It took two full days and a morning session before play could finally get started at Trent Bridge yesterday and it still proved to be an almost pointless exercise for Yorkshire, who had been glad to win the toss and bat first.

Maximum bonus points and a draw was probably what Yorkshire had in mind but they ended the day on 246 for nine in 68 overs and grateful for a solitary batting point, with the prospect of another one to come today.

Yorkshire's situation would have been grim if Darren Lehmann had not blazed his way to 62 before Richard Dawson held the second half of the batting together with a beautifully composed 74 not out in his first appearance of the season.

Former Yorkshire left-arm paceman, Ryan Sidebottom, also played a big part in his native county's demise on his debut for his new county. After coming on to curtail Lehmann's blazing strokeplay, he then caught him at third man and later on it was he who had the other Australian, Ian Harvey, taken behind for a prized first scalp. Impatient to get started after kicking their heels for more than two days while over 1,000 gallons of water were removed from the field, Yorkshire soon found themselves fighting to stave off a hat-trick as Greg Smith had Craig White caught in the slips and Chris Taylor lbw.

Lehmann denied Smith by trotting a single to mid-off and was soon engaging top gear, with scorching boundaries off both Charlie Shreck and Smith, who was also carved over point for six before and driven off the front foot for a further four.

The left-hander's stand with Matthew Wood had reached 50 in 11 overs when Wood was brilliantly caught right-handed at third slip by Australian David Hussey off Shreck and it was while attempting a six over third man that Lehmann guided Smith straight into the hands of Sidebottom on the boundary.

Lehmann had hammered nine fours and a six off 76 balls and Harvey showed he intended to progress in similar vein by hitting his first three balls for fours. But wickets tumbled at the other end. Michael Lumb's patient vigil ended when surprised by Mark Ealham's extra bounce, and Simon Guy was bowled all ends up in the first over after tea by Paul Franks.

Sidebottom's dismissal of Harvey and Tim Bresnan to the first and last balls of the first over of his second spell left Yorkshire floundering on 151 for eight but Dawson, who had been batting confidently from the start of his innings, received valuable support from Chris Silverwood in a 42 stand in 14 overs.

Soon after Dawson had struck consecutive balls from Ealham through extra cover for four and six, Silverwood chipped back a low catch to Kevin Pietersen, but last man John Blain helped bring up the 200 and a bonus point in the 59th over. The last-wicket pair grew increasingly confident as Nottinghamshire began to wilt and their stand at the close had reached 53, with Dawson's 74 coming off 96 balls with nine fours and a six.

* Steve Kirby has been told he will be out of action for around ten days after seeing a specialist over his back problem.

* Yorkshire Phoenix welcome back Matthew Hoggard for their totesport League clash with Nottinghamshire Outlaws at Trent Bridge tomorrow.

Hoggard has been in enforced hibernation since returning home from England's successful Test tour of the West Indies, where he became a hero by claiming a hat-trick in the third Test.

Yorkshire from: Wood, White, Lehmann, Lumb, Harvey, Craven, Dawson, Guy, Silverwood, Hoggard, Blain, Bresnan.

* Peter Bowler, who will be 41 in July, is still a force to be reckoned with in the game.

The Somerset opener confirmed that point at Chelmsford as he followed up his century in the opening Frizzell County Championship match against Derbyshire with an unbeaten 187 against a laboured Essex attack.