Yorkshire are in danger of ending the season without any of their batsmen completing 1,000 first-class runs for the first time this century.

The last time no-one reached four figures was in 1893, and skipper David Byas and Michael Vaughan will be trying hard to make sure it does not happen again when Yorkshire begin their last match of the season against new champions Surrey at The Oval tomorrow.

Vaughan currently leads the way with 888 runs and is closely followed by Byas on 873.

At least one of them should have a good chance of succeeding on a prime batting track, particularly as Surrey have now released their wizard off-spinner Saq-lain Mushtaq.

More important to York-shire than individual runs, however, is Division One survival when the championship splits into two next year.

Although their current fourth position makes them virtually certainties to avoid the drop, they need to take six points from the match to make absolutely sure.

A draw and two bonus points, therefore, would do the trick, but Byas has called for a big effort to win the match, rather than being content to opt for safety.

Taking a maximum 20 points from the game would ensure that Yorkshire hold on to fourth place, and they could even finish second above Lancashire, but this is unlikely.

Nothing would delight Byas and Co more, however, than to ruffle Surrey's feathers and it would give them enormous satisfaction to become the only side this season to beat them.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.