YORKSHIRE’S hopes of distancing themselves from the bottom of the County Championship were dashed on day two as Worcestershire grabbed maximum batting points on a day where three hours of cricket were lost to rain at New Road.

Jacques Rudolph was dismissed early in the Tykes’ reply to further darken the picture but Joe Sayers and Michael Vaughan looked excellent in front of England’s chairman of selectors Geoff Miller to navigate their way to the close in a bright spot on an otherwise bleak day.

Play got underway on time but repetitive cloud bursts resulted in 54 overs being lost as the weather got in Yorkshire’s way against Worcestershire for the second time this season.

Plenty happened for birthday boy Steve Davies early on as he looked untroubled in ensuring a double celebration by thrashing a series of fine fours to quickly turn his overnight 75 into a hundred.

Ashley Noffke went LBW to Ajmal Shahzad having made 35.

The delivery that finally saw the back of Davies for 112 saw Deon Kruis change tact to bowl around the wicket and force him to play into the hands of Jonathan Bairstow behind the stumps.

The teams soon left the field and Worcestershire reached maximum batting points when play finally got back underway late in the afternoon.

A strange tactical decision then allowed Tykes to get their full allocation when Gareth Batty helped the hosts reach 400 for eight but captain Vikram Solanki opted not to declare with Yorkshire still in need of a wicket to earn an extra point.

The decision immediately proved costly when Batty edged the next ball to Rudolph who held on well with the ball arrowing quickly toward him.

The home side were finally dismissed for 415 and removed Rudolph when he was caught behind for just nine to leave the visitors in real trouble on 15 for one.

Sayers and Vaughan stood up strongly to the Worcestershire attack before the close with Vaughan cutting and driving superbly to notch five fours and finish the day unbeaten on 21.

Sayers had made his way to 25 before bad light intervened to bring play to a head at six o’clock.

Yorkshire desperately need these two to stay together if they are to get themselves back into the game, they closed on 55 for one, trailing by 360.

Scoreboard

Worcestershire v Yorkshire At New Road

Yorkshire First Innings

Bad Light Stopped Play

J A Rudolph c S M Davies b Mason ...... 9

J J Sayers not out ...............................25

M P Vaughan not out ..........................21

Extras ().............................. 0

Total 1 wkt (13.1 overs)................55

Fall: 1-15

To Bat: A McGrath, A W Gale, J M Bairstow, T T Bresnan, A Shahzad, Azeem Rafiq, M J Hoggard, G J Kruis.

Bonus Pts: Worcestershire 5 Yorkshire 3.