Hampshire v Yorkshire (County Championship) : Day Two

Michael Vaughan was involved in yet another injury scare at the Rose Bowl yesterday when he had to retire hurt after being struck a painful blow on the middle finger of his right hand.

The England captain, who had made 15 in the Yorkshire second innings against Hampshire, then shook his hand in agony and took off his batting glove after being hit by a spiteful delivery by Australian fast bowler Stuart Clark which lifted sharply.

Yorkshire's physiotherapist, Scott McAllister, rushed out to attend to Vaughan and apply a spray to his hand before he was able to continue and he managed a single off the next ball which was another nasty lifter.

But after facing the first two balls of the following over from James Tomlinson, Vaughan was forced to leave the field and he was later taken to hospital for an X-ray.

"The blow was obviously bad enough for Michael to stop batting but it is too early yet to assess the extent of the injury," said McAllister. "We will just have to await the results of the X-ray."

A fired-up Clark then had Anthony McGrath caught behind and Joe Sayers pinned lbw to leave Yorkshire on 49 for two at the close after gaining a first innings lead of three.

The late drama shocked Yorkshire and put into the shade a fine exhibition of fast bowling by Tim Bresnan which had earlier hauled his side back into the match just when they appeared to have their backs firmly to the wall.

Hampshire were cruising at 158 for one when Bresnan claimed the first of his three wickets in a nine over spell and, with Jason Gillespie also striking three times, the home side crumbled rapidly to 232 for eight. Only a gutsy 70 not out from wicketkeeper Nic Pothas denied Yorkshire a much bigger lead.

Bresnan ended up with four for 65 off 22 overs and with a maiden century already under his belt this season he continues to be an outstanding all-round prospect, despite being cold-shouldered by England who this week did not include him in their 25-strong development squad.

Even during the morning session, Bresnan was the pick of the bowlers as opener Michael Brown made solid progress towards his second consecutive Championship century, and he claimed the only wicket to fall before lunch, James Adams trapped lbw.

The openers put on 68 together and with Brown and John Crawley easing their way into a 90 stand on a good batting surface, Yorkshire seemed to be losing control of a situation for the first time this season.

Bresnan, however, continued to move the ball around as well as generating a good pace and getting plenty of carry and when Crawley was brilliantly caught by Brophy at full stretch off a leg-glance it opened the floodgates.

Former Yorkshire left-hander, Michael Lumb, was straight off the mark with a handsome on-drive but he feathered a catch to Brophy in Bresnan's next over and the bowler had Chris Benham badly dropped at second slip by Younis Khan off his next delivery.

It was not an expensive miss because Adil Rashid then had Benham caught off bat and pad at silly mid-off and soon after Brown had reached a flawless century off 150 balls with 14 fours he was lbw to Bresnan for 105 with one which nipped back.

Gillespie had the immense satisfaction of including fellow Australians Shane Warne and Clark among his three victims but Yorkshire were checked by the solid Pothas who had faced 148 balls and struck nine fours and a six by the time Rashid knocked back Tomlinson's middle stump to end the innings.

SCORECARD

Hampshire v Yorkshirea at The Rose Bowl.

Overnight: Yorkshire 299 (Younis Khan 106, M
P Vaughan 72, A Rashid 54;J T A Bruce 4-
56). Hampshire 25-0.

Hampshire First Innings
J H Adams c Brophy b Bresnan 22
M J Brown lbw b Bresnan 105
J P Crawley c Brophy b Bresnan 32
M J Lumb c Brophy b Bresnan 5
C C Benham c Rudolph b A Rashid 2
N Pothas not out 70
S M Ervine c Brophy b Gillespie 12
S K Warne c McGrath b Gillespie 10
S R Clark c Brophy b Gillespie 3
J T Bruce c A Rashid b Hoggard 7
J A Tomlinson b A Rashid 5
Extras (lb7 w4 nb12 pens 0)23
Total (95.3 overs) 296
Fall: 1-68 2-158 3-166 4-169 5-181 6-218
7-228 8-232 9-275
Bowling: Hoggard 19-2-52-1. Gough 9-2-40-
0. A Rashid 26.3-2-79-2. Bresnan 22-6-65-4.
Gillespie 14-4-40-3. Younis Khan 2-0-9-0.
Rudolph 3-1-4-0.

Yorkshire Second Innings Close
J J Sayers lbw b Clark 6
M P Vaughan retd hurt 16
A McGrath c Pothas b Clark 7
Younis Khan not out 8
M J Hoggard not out 8
Extras (b4 pens 0) 4
Total 2 wkts (14 overs)49
Fall: 1-29 2-34
To Bat: J A Rudolph, G L Brophy, A Rashid, T
T Bresnan, D Gough, J N Gillespie.
Bowling: Clark 7-0-24-2. Bruce 4-1-10-0. Tomlinson
1-0-7-0. Ervine 1-1-0-0. Warne 1-0-4-0.