A sparkling 98 from Phil Jaques and gutsy half-centuries by Michael Lumb and Anthony McGrath could not prevent Yorkshire Phoenix from losing by three runs to bottom-of-the-table Surrey Lions in last night's floodlit Totesport League match at Headingley.

It was a great effort by Yorkshire, who needed 265 for victory and did well to get so close under far from adequate lighting.

They wanted nine off the last over by left-arm spinner Nayan Doshi, but Ismail Dawood was run out attempting a second run and Tim Bresnan was bowled off the last ball which he needed to hit to the boundary to win the match.

After Matthew Wood was out first ball, Jaques and Lumb put on 93 before Lumb was caught behind for 56 from 62 deliveries, but the cool-headed Jaques then settled into a 129-run stand in 21 overs with McGrath.

It ended when Jaques was bowled by Azhar Mahmood for 98 from 111 balls and when McGrath was run out for 54 the task became too stiff for Yorkshire.

Surrey had set off at a rattling pace after winning the toss with James Benning and Jon Batty putting on 111 for the first wicket, most of the runs coming from powerful boundary shots.

Benning set the tone by carving Deon Kruis's first ball over the slips, while left-armer David Lucas's first delivery in a competitive game for Yorkshire was cut for another four by Batty.

Benning hurried on to 72 off 62 balls before he skied Richard Dawson on the leg side to Tim Bresnan.

McGrath had Batty hitting to mid-wicket after making 41 and Surrey found scoring much harder when the all-rounder joined Dawson in the attack, Dawson striking with a double wicket maiden as Scott Newman gave him a return catch and Alistair Brown was bowled by an off-break.

Rikki Clarke had two almost identical escapes early in his innings when both Dawson and McGrath put down return catches - and they proved costly errors as Clarke went on to rattle up 90 from 71 balls, putting on 99 for the fifth wicket with Mark Ramprakash.

l Yorkshire suffered a setback yesterday when informed by England that Michael Vaughan would not be allowed to play in Saturday's Cheltenham & Gloucester Trophy quarter-final against Northamptonshire at Headingley.

ECB chief medical officer Dr Peter Gregory said England needed to ensure there was no further deterioration to the groin strain that kept Vaughan out of two of the NatWest Series matches.

Yorkshire will again be captained by Dawson in the absence of Craig White, who hopes to be fit for the County Cham-pionship match against Leicestershire at Scarborough next week.