Yorkshire had further pain inflicted upon them in their championship match at Derby today when they were frustrated by a big stand by Derbyshire's last wicket pair of Mo Sheikh and Paul Havell.

The pair resumed on the second day with Derbyshire standing on 351 for nine and they went on to complete a 50 partnership which brought their side an unexpected fifth batting bonus point.

Their stand was worth 56 when Sheikh finally fell to Andy Gray after taking the Derbyshire total on to 406 in 118 overs.

Anthony McGrath yesterday recorded career-best bowling figures of five for 33 - beating his four for 49 against Hampshire at Southampton in 2002 - but for some strange reason Yorkshire did not open up with him today, preferring instead the combination of Ian Harvey and Steve Kirby.

There appeared to be little wrong with Kirby who had left the field for a while yesterday evening grimacing from a knee problem.

Neither he nor Harvey, however, was able to break the stand and Harvey conceded most of the runs, including the first boundary of the morning when Sheikh cut him for four the ball after Havell had got off the mark with a three.

Havell late cut Harvey for four and with the situation getting out of hand Harvey and Kirby were replaced by McGrath and John Blain but the runs continued to flow, Sheikh producing a classy straight drive for four off Blain.

Gray became the fifth bowler of the morning at 394 for nine but it was Sheikh's single against Harvey that raised the 400, made the stand worth 50, and brought the fifth batting point.

It came as a huge relief to Yorkshire when Sheikh edged Gray to Ismail Dawood and was out for 42, leaving last man Havell unbeaten on 13. McGrath's final figures were five for 39 off 22 overs.

The general feebleness of Yorkshire's pace bowling was underlined by the fact that McGrath became the first seamer to take more than three wickets for them in a championship match this season.

Derbyshire were left feeling quite happy with their biggest score of the season on a good batting pitch and will hold out some hope of ending a sequence of 25 home matches without a win which stretches back to June 1, 2002.

McGrath had previously bowled only 22 overs for Yorkshire this season without claiming a wicket but they would have been in a sorry state in this game without his contribution.

With Chris Silverwood out of action because of a heel injury, much was expected of Kirby and Harvey, but Kirby limped off for a while in the evening session with a mysterious knee problem before returning and the Australian never looked like taking a wicket.

McGrath's victims included the two most important dismissals of the day - those of Hassan Adnan, who made 86, and Chris Bassano who edged into his stumps two balls after completing a fine century off 171 balls with 12 fours and a six.