Anthony McGrath and Michael Vaughan both got cut off in their prime at Headingley yesterday as Yorkshire made a gallant effort to make for lost time in the rain-hit championship match against Derbyshire.

The openers played some sparkling attacking shots in putting on 79 together before Vaughan was lbw for 33 to Andrew Harris who went on to have McGrath coolly caught low down at backward point by Phil DeFreitas for 42.

Yorkshire continued to press on after their first wicket pair had departed and David Byas and Matthew Wood had taken them to 157 for two in 55 overs by the close.

The quality of Yorkshire's batting was of some compensation to the long suffering spectators who had to wait until three o'clock to see the innings resumed on the previous day's score of five without loss from the 23 balls which were played.

Yesterday's delay was caused firstly by heavy overnight rain which left parts of the square in a spongy condition and then further bad weather during the morning.

Immediately play began, McGrath came close to being lbw to Dominic Cork and it was into the sixth over of the innings before he stabbed his first run.

McGrath failed twice in the previous match against Somerset but once over his hesitant start he shook off his inhibitions and there were no signs of nervousness from the moment he cover drove DeFreitas for the first boundary.

Vaughan also recorded his first four with a regal on-drive when DeFreitas over--pitched and runs continued to come at a fair pace but when Cork returned for a second spell he got a ball to lift sharply and split Vaughan's left batting glove.

The timing of both batsmen was remarkable in view of their hours of inactivity and most of the runs came from well middled drives. Nothing looked better than Vaughan's cover driven boundary off Harris but the next ball trapped him lbw as he appeared to lose his balance slightly in going for another drive.

Although it took Byas 24 balls to make his first run, McGrath continued to middle practically everything until he was out without hardly anyone noticing it for 42. He seemed to play Harris on the ground to backward point but the ball had skimmed through the air and DeFreitas took a good catch with the minimum of fuss.

Wood again looked an outstanding prospect as he quietly played himself in with Byas and there were six runs for Yorkshire when Harris bowled Byas a legside wide which sped off to the boundary - two penalty runs for the wide, plus the four runs.

DeFreitas put in a testing spell near the close but not before Wood had hit him for four with a fine shot off his legs and then cut and hooked him for boundaries in one over to move ahead of his captain.

Byas finished on 21 and Wood 22, their third wicket stand being worth 61, Derbyshire having given away 30 runs in no-balls.

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