RAIN halted Yorkshire’s progress as they looked to complete a victory that would see them close the gap on Specsavers County Championship Division One leaders Middlesex at Scarborough.

Having set Nottinghamshire an unlikely 452 to win, they reduced the visitors to 61-3 before the weather brought about an early tea.

Resuming after lunch on 4-1, youngsters Jake Libby and Tom Moores batted sensibly against the new ball until Tim Bresnan’s introduction into the attack.

The England all-rounder removed Libby with the first ball of his spell as Jake Lehmann took a tumbling catch at fourth slip before inducing an edge from Michael Lumb five balls later that Andrew Hodd held onto.

Moores, however, continued to defy the Tykes bowlers, and was unbeaten on 41 when the umpires took the players off for bad light midway through the afternoon session, with heavy rain setting in moments later.

Earlier Bresnan had shared in an unbroken stand of 69 for the fifth wicket with stand-in captain Gary Ballance as the left-hander brought up his 29th first-class hundred before declaring on 263-4.