12/9/05 - County saved by weather up north

Only five overs were possible in the fourth day at Headingley on Saturday as Yorkshire seemed set to claim their sixth win of the season.

But Steve Rhodes' men were handed a two-point punishment for bowling their overs too slowly.

Yorkshire, chasing 203, took their score to 125-2 before the umpires brought the players off for poor light and what they considered to be dangerous conditions.

There were still 35 overs remaining at that stage but further rain soon afterwards caused the game to be abandoned.

Kabir Ali started up from the football end to Anthony McGrath, who was 42 overnight and in the sort of form which brought him a dazzling 173 not out in the first innings.

McGrath took a single off the first ball before Michael Lumb found the boundary with a cut.

More runs came from the other end as Nadeem Malik's first delivery was cover-driven to the boundary by McGrath.

Yorkshire went into three figures in the 22nd over and McGrath played Kabir for two off his legs to complete his half-century off 43 balls with eight boundaries.

The poor light made it difficult for both sides but McGrath was eager to get on with it.

He took a step forward to slam Kabir high over mid-on, the ball bouncing inches inside the rope and going for four.

After conferring a couple of times, umpires Mervyn Kitchen and Nigel Cowley decided to bring the players off.

McGrath had moved on to 65 off 55 balls with 11 boundaries and Lumb finished on 16.

Kitchen said: "The general conditions had become unfit and were dangerous for both sides.

"Light rain had made the field more slippery and one fielder had crashed into the boundary boards.

"The light was so poor that I could not always see where the ball was being hit."

In the end it did not matter because more general rain set in after about 15 minutes.

Worcestershire are fifth in Division Two with one game remaining, while Yorkshire lie in third place.