Yorkshire Phoenix overcame both Worcestershire Royals and the tantrums of South African fast bowler Nantie Hayward to win the bottom of the table clash in Division One of the National League at Scarborough yesterday.

It was Yorkshire's third consecutive home win in the competition and although they remain bottom they now have a ray of hope of avoiding relegation.

Chasing a modest target of 171 on a turning pitch, Yorkshire owed their three-wicket success to a fighting knock of 60 from Matthew Wood, who returned the frequent taunts and glares from the over-heated Hayward with a gentle smile.

There were occasions, however, when Hayward's behaviour and bad temper was completely unacceptable - like when Michael Lumb thrashed him for three boundaries in four balls then cut straight to backward point, where Justin Kemp was unsure whether he had taken a low catch cleanly.

While umpires Barrie Leadbeater and Mike Harris conferred, Hayward walked down the pitch to Lumb and signalled for him to depart, then when the left-hander was correctly given not out the South African approached Leadbeater and had a snarl at him.

Although Hayward regularly taunted Wood, the opener batted superbly and played some glorious strokes, particularly in the early part of his innings when he punished Kabir Ali with three firmly struck fours.

Wood kept his cool while wickets fell at the other end and by the time he was brilliantly caught at mid-wicket by Kabir Ali he had faced 117 balls and hit eight boundaries.

Lumb also played well for his 22 and Tim Bresnan eased the pressure later on with some robust batting which brought him 23 before he went for a big drive at Hayward and sliced a high catch to Kabir at third man.

By then, Yorkshire were almost home and Richard Dawson settled the issue with a boundary off Kabir with three overs remaining.

Kabir and Hayward each captured three wickets and although Gareth Batty conceded only 17 runs in his nine overs, he did not cause the same problems as Yorkshire's two off-spinners, Dawson and Andy Gray.

Dawson gave his most confident display in a long while in picking up three for 26 in eight overs, including the wicket of Worcestershire captain, Ben Smith, whose solid 56 came off 98 balls and contained four fours. Smith was lured down the pitch by Dawson and smartly stumped by Richard Blakey, who had earlier entered Yorkshire's record book when he caught Vikram Solanki.

It was Blakey's 235th catch in National League matches to put him one ahead of his predecessor behind the stumps, David Bairstow.

Worcestershire were always struggling after Steve Kirby had dismissed Solanki in his first over and the 5,500 crowd roared in delight when his next ball plucked out the off-stump of Graeme Hick. Kirby ended with career-best figures of three for 27.

Worcestershire seemed unhappy that a six was not signalled instead of Matt Mason being given out when he belted Dawson towards the wide long-on boundary, where Wood held the ball before throwing it to Lumb as he headed towards the rope. The umpires agreed with Wood that he had released the ball before going over the line but this incident may have had something to do with Hayward's antics later.

* Mark Ramprakash's second century in as many days gave Surrey a vital win against Glamorgan in the National League match at Whitgift School.

The former England batsman, who scored a magnificent 101, was well supported by Ian Ward and Adam Hollioake as the Lions smashed a formidable 298 for five from their 45 overs.

They then dismissed the visitors for 240 with 5.2 overs remaining for a 58-run victory to ensure their return to the top at the expense of Gloucestershire.

Alistair Brown and Ward got off to a bright start with a rapid partnership of 23 before Brown was clean bowled by Andrew Davies for 14 in the sixth over.

Ward (44) played some delightful shots and shared a partnership of 70 with Ramprakash before he too was bowled as he looked to force away Adrian Dale on the on-side. He had faced 64 balls, with six fours and one massive straight six off Dale.

Graham Thorpe joined Ramprakash and they showed little mercy as Ramprakash went on to his century from 91 balls with three sixes and 11 fours.

Two balls later he holed out to Davies giving Jimmy Maher his first one-day wicket with the score on 213.

With Azhar Mahmood scoring 12 and Hollioake smashing 41 from 16 balls, Thorpe was left unbeaten on 77 as the Surrey innings closed, with Maher finishing on three for 29 from just three overs.

Glamorgan began their reply with Maher striking a superb straight drive in Martin Bicknell's second over before he was dismissed next ball as he chipped to Ramprakash at cover.