Yorkshire were still smarting from their 95-run defeat by Essex in the semi-final of the Benson and Hedges Cup yesterday when it was revealed that all-rounder Craig White is to have a hospital scan on a mystery back injury on Thursday.

This means he will miss the championship match against Hampshire which starts at Headingley on the same day and the loss of their leading wicket-taker is a double blow to Yorkshire who will also be without the injured Darren Gough as they try to pick up the pieces.

Yorkshire skipper David Byas also said that Darren Lehmann had felt unwell during the game with nausea but he refused to make any excuses for a shocking Yorkshire performance.

"They played a lot better than us and fully deserved to win," said Byas. "They were very workmanlike, well organised and totally outplayed us in every department. I was confident before the game that we had put a side out which could beat them but we let them get away with too many runs in the closing stages of their innings and we never scored at the required rate."

In the last four seasons, Yorkshire have now lost four semi-finals - two in the B&H and two in the NatWest Trophy - and they still seem unable to pull out all the stops when it really matters.

Both sides were plunged into early chaos by the loss of three quick wickets but the difference was that Essex were able to shrug off these blows after being put in to bat while Yorkshire never looked like challenging their opponents' score of 258 for seven.

The man-of-the-match gold award went to Essex captain Nasser Hussain for his rallying 78 but former Yorkshire all-rounder Paul Grayson also made a telling contribution with three middle-order wickets to snuff out any lingering hopes of a home revival.

Paul Hutchison celebrated his 21st birthday yesterday but it was his new ball partner Chris Silverwood who was the immediate toast of his team-mates.

Silverwood prompted celebrations when he trapped Darren Robinson lbw with the first ball of the match.

Silverwood soon got rid of Essex's other opener, Stuart Law, to a great tumbling catch by Bradley Parker at square leg, and Hutchison made it 33 for three when Robert Rollins picked up a legside ball and directed it to Gavin Hamilton on the long leg boundary.

But Hussain and Ronnie Irani seemed unworried by the precarious situation and they raced the score along with some fine shots to add 83 in 18 overs before Irani nudged Sidebottom to Blakey for 39.

Danny Law and Ashley Cowan added a vital 56 runs in the last six overs to give Essex a healthy total. When Yorkshire batted, Vaughan survived one ball longer than Robinson had managed, before being lbw to Cowan, and the experiment of opening with White proved a failure as he edged Mark Ilott gently into Rollins' gloves.

A leading edge off Ilott accounted for Byas and at 29 for three Yorkshire were in serious trouble. The main hope was Lehmann before Such enticed the Australian into a sweep but the ball was too close to him and it bobbed up off bat and pad for Rollins to pouch. Grayson effectively ended the match with three wickets in quick succession and the end came with the stumping of Sidebottom by Rollins.

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