Yorkshire hold on for draw

Michael Vaughan looked confident © Getty Images

England captain Michael Vaughan was left searching for his first big score of the season as Yorkshire’s LV County Championship Division One match with Nottinghamshire ended in a tense draw.

Vaughan, who had managed 42 in the first innings at Headingley Carnegie, looked in confident mood until he attempted to cut off-spinner, Graeme Swann, and edged the ball on to his stumps.

The 33-year-old had made 34 off 77 deliveries with six well executed boundaries but his departure meant he has now run out of opportunities to take a heavy toll of first-class bowling ahead of the Test series with New Zealand.

His only other match before joining up with England is for Yorkshire in their Friends Provident Trophy clash with Durham Dynamos at Headingley Carnegie on Monday.

But Yorkshire director of cricket Martyn Moxon admitted he had no worries about Vaughan’s form ahead of the series against the Kiwis.

“I thought he played very well for the 30 overs which were possible on the first day and he batted extremely well again today,” Moxon said.

“Technically, he is absolutely spot on and he just needs the volume of runs to go with it. If he goes on playing like this you can expect a big hundred from him very soon.”

A three-wicket burst for Tim Bresnan in the morning helped Yorkshire bowl out Nottinghamshire for 422 when the visitors enjoyed a lead of 123 but Yorkshire wiped out the arrears without too many alarms before getting the jitters in the evening session.

Yorkshire seamer Tim Bresnan finished off Nottinghamshire's batting order © Getty Images

Notts resumed their innings on the final day on 356 for six with Chris Read on 115 and Stuart Broad 52 but they added only eight to their overnight stand of 105 before Broad was lbw to spinner Adil Rashid for 53 from 106 balls with four fours.

The runs continued to flow, however, as Read and Mark Ealham scored freely against Rashid and Matthew Hoggard to dash the total on to 400 for seven to secure Notts maximum batting bonus points.

Then Bresnan ended the spree with three wickets for one run in 11 balls. He trapped Ealham lbw, had Ryan Sidebottom edging to Gerard Brophy and held on to a skier when Read misjudged a big drive.

It had been an outstanding innings by Read whose 142 came off 230 balls with 16 fours and a six.

Yorkshire opener Joe Sayers experienced another batting failure, being taken by Ealham at fourth slip off Sidebottom shortly before lunch but Vaughan and Anthony McGrath moved the score smartly to 71 when Vaughan unexpectedly departed.

McGrath also looked set for a big innings until he edged a hook at Broad and was caught by Read for 43 and there was another catch for the wicketkeeper when Jacques Rudolph followed a delivery from Sidebottom.

Rashid was caught round the corner off Sidebottom and suddenly Yorkshire were in trouble at 149 for five.

With the final hour approaching, Andrew Gale pushed at Swann and was caught at slip by Ealham and Brophy checked a drive at Broad to be held by Mark Wagh at mid-on.

South African Morne Morkel, who left the field with a leg injury the previous day, came in to bat with a runner and relieved some of the pressure by driving Swann to the boundary but he then popped up a catch to Swann at silly mid-on to bring Samit Patel a wicket.

Captain Darren Gough joined Bresnan at 168 for eight and the ninth wicket pair managed to cling on until Notts called it a day with Yorkshire 187 for eight, 64 runs ahead, with six overs remaining.