Centuries from Somerset's new wonderboy Matt Wood and captain Ian Blackwell put Yorkshire Phoenix on the rack at Taunton yesterday - but in a pulsating finish last man Deon Kruis struck 20 off the final over to leave Yorkshire just three runs away from reaching their massive 346 target.

All hope seemed to have gone with 23 required from the last over but after Kruis had failed to score off the first delivery from Blackwell he struck a six and three fours off consecutive balls.

That left the South African needing to hit the last ball for four to tie and six to win but his off-drive was fielded on the boundary edge and Somerset scraped home by two runs in an incredible game.

It was drama from first ball to last after Craig White won the toss and put Somerset in to bat on a superb batting track.

But Yorkshire could never have imagined they were in for another caning from 24-year-old opener Wood who only five days earlier had thrashed 297 in the Championship encounter between the sides.

But Wood went on playing the same sort of dazzling strokes he had shown in the first class match and they brought him a magnificent 129 from 105 balls with 13 beautifully timed boundaries.

It was the highest individual score against Yorkshire in the totesport League and for a while it seemed as if Wood were capable of passing the highest knock against them in the history of the Sunday League - 155 by Hampshire's Barry Richards - but in the 40th over he was caught on the boundary edge off Tim Bresnan, having survived chances on 84 and 113.

Wood's wicket was of some consolation to Bresnan whose figures of one for 87 in nine overs were Yorkshire's most expensive ever recorded in Sunday cricket.

If Wood's runs came from carefully selected strokes, Blackwell's were made in brutal fashion, his 114 containing 11 fours and five sixes and coming off only 61 balls. Most of his big hits came from straight sixes blasted with enormous power and in White's only over he was plundered for 20 runs.

Yorkshire knew they were up against it after Wood and John Francis added 105 for the second wicket, this partnership then being exceeded by the 136 in only 19 overs between Wood and Blackwell.

A good start was needed if Yorkshire were to get anywhere near their formidable target and they were given it by their own Matthew Wood and Phil Jaques who ran up 121 together in 16 overs.

But Wood, after reaching his 50, was caught by James Hildreth for 51 from 58 balls with eight fours, and three overs later Jaques was lbw to a quicker ball from Blackwell for 66 off just 46 deliveries with eight fours and a six.

Every batsman who followed made some attempt to keep Yorkshire in the hunt, particularly Ismail Dawood who completed his first half-century of the season and had moved on to 57 when he was seventh out at 286.

Richard Dawson and Bresnan followed him back to the pavilion to leave Yorkshire on 304 for nine but Kruis showed Phoenix still had a sting in their tail and his amazing blast almost pulled off what would have been their most stunning one-day victory ever.

l The weather gods smiled on Yorkshire at Taunton on Saturday when rain after only half-an-hour's play on the final day condemned their Championship match with Somerset to a draw.

It was tough on Somerset, who were very much in the box seat, but it meant Yorkshire came out of the stalemate with 11 points to move them from fourth to second place in the Second Division table.

They nosed 2.2 points ahead of Lancashire, now in third spot, and all is set for an action-packed Roses clash, starting at Old Trafford tomorrow.

The draw also preserved Yorkshire's unbeaten record in the Championship and there is now the possibility they will go all season without a defeat, something which has not happened in a full summer of first class cricket since 1928.