Yorkshire paceman John Blain claimed a wicket in a bizarre over after Derbyshire had won the toss in the championship match at Derby today and Steve Kirby also struck quickly as the Tykes seized the early initiative.

Steve Stubbings and Andrew Gait each took a single off Kirby's opening over before Blain began with two legside wides which both flew to the boundary, each one of the erratic deliveries adding five to the total.

But Blain's third ball - his first legitimate one - beat Gait's forward defensive push and knocked off the bails.

The first boundary came when Stubbings played Blain off his legs and Australian John Moss found the boundary with a savage cut in Kirby's next over but another wicket was not long in coming.

Derbyshire were 35 for one in the seventh over when Moss survived an impassioned shout for a catch behind the wicket, umpire Trevor Jesty's not out decision drawing a verbal response from Kirby.

Kirby was soon able to calm down again because two balls later he appealed for lbw against Moss and this time Jesty raised his finger.

Hassan Adnan was next in and he and Stubbings took Derbyshire to 51 for two in 11 overs at which stage Ian Harvey came on for Blain.

Vic Craven came into Yorkshire's side in place of free-scoring Australian Darren Lehmann, whose back scan has revealed an inflamed disc but the problem is not thought to be serious and he should be back soon.

Yorkshire decided to go into the game with two off-spinners in Richard Dawson and Andy Gray which meant that there was no room for paceman Nick Thornicroft.

Lehmann has again given Yorkshire outstanding service this season but fellow countryman Harvey needs a good match at Derby in order to improve upon his performances for the county so far.

Either side of tearing a hamstring and being out injured for a couple of months, Harvey has played in five championship match but his only reasonable score was when he hit 95 in the opening game against Essex at Headingley.

He has made even less impact with the ball, taking just four wickets at 63.25 runs apiece, and in the ten-wicket defeat by Somerset at Scarborough last week Harvey was barracked during an untidy display which saw him concede 90 in 17 overs without taking a wicket.

His contributions have been somewhat better in one-day cricket but it is in the championship that Yorkshire need him to shine at the moment.

Andrew Gale, who made a career-best 70 not out against Somerset Sabres on Sunday, can further press his claims for a regular first-team place with another good score, while Michael Lumb will be looking for the same sort of form that brought him 71 against Sabres.