Yorkshire's crushing Roses victory by 150 runs at Old Trafford on Saturday has given a flicker of hope to the County Champions that they can still pull off an Houdini act and escape relegation to the Second Division.

But, just as importantly, it has filled them with confidence ahead of their Cheltenham and Gloucester Trophy final with Somerset at Lord's on Saturday week.

If Yorkshire can snatch the Trophy and avoid the drop it will be an incredible double in an amazing season on and off the field but even if they succeed in only one of their aims it will still be a remarkable achievement.

The triumph over Lancashire was Yorkshire's first win in the Championship since claiming the title at Scarborough almost a year ago.

But they remain bottom of the table with the two other teams in relegation places, Somerset and Lancashire, both enjoying a game in hand.

Yet Richard Blakey, who captained Yorkshire calmly and skilfully, believes they can still survive.

"I think this win has been coming for a bit because we have been playing better for about a month without getting any rewards until now.

"I was very pleased with the way we kept Lancashire under pressure and never let a big stand build up or allow them to settle.

"This was a big team performance with four or five major individual contributions. I am sure we can stay up but we are not daft and we know we have to win three of our last four games to stand a chance."

It was Gary Fellows who turned the Roses match upside down with his maiden first class century on Friday.

But the hero on the final day was off-spinner Richard Dawson, who returned his season's best figures of 5-42 as Lancashire lost their appetite for a fight and crumbled to 148 all out.

Steven Kirby began the slide with his second ball of the morning when he flattened Mark Chilton's off-stump, but the real damage was done by Dawson when he turned a ball sharply and breached Stuart Law's defences as the Australian attempted to cut.

The most enjoyable moment for Yorkshire came with the demise of their former captain, David Byas, who played over an inswinger from Anthony McGrath and was bowled to leave Lancashire tottering on 92-5.

Neil Fairbrother casually cut Kirby straight to Fellows at point just before lunch and with Lancashire captain Warren Hegg unable to bat after the interval because of a badly dislocated finger, Dawson swiftly ran through the tail.

"There was an amazing amount of relief for the team when we won and a fair bit of relief for me also," said Dawson.

"I bowled more as I should be bowling and I got turn and dip again. I felt my rhythm was coming back and the win has done a lot for my confidence and the rest of the team."

Frizzell County Championship

Division One

Lancashire v Yorkshire

(at Old Trafford)

Yorkshire 1st innings: 294 (Elliott 83, Blakey 77, Anderson 5-61).

Lancashire 1st innings: 301-9 dec (Swann 112).

Yorkshire 2nd innings: 305 (Fellows 109, McGrath 86).

Lancashire Second Innings

Chilton b Kirby 16

Swann b Silverwood 12

Keedy c Lumb b Dawson 6

Byas b McGrath 14

Law b Dawson 13

Fairbrother c Fellows b Kirby 38

Chapple c McGrath b Dawson 11

Yates c Taylor b Dawson 14

Wood c Elliott b Dawson 11

Anderson not out 4

Hegg absent 0

Extras (lb3 w2 nb4) 9

Total (49.3 overs) 148

Fall: 1-29 2-36 3-36 4-59 5-92 6-116 7-120 8-139 9-148

Bowling: Silverwood 13-5-44-1 Kirby 12-4-27-2 Dawson 14.3-5-42-5 McGrath 6-1-18-1 Thornicroft 4-0-14-0

Yorkshire (17pts) beat Lancashire (6pts) by 150 runs.

Southampton: Hampshire (16pts) bt Somerset (5pts) by 4 wkts. Somerset 278 (Johnson 61, Turner 57, Parsons 51, Mullally 4-58) & 190, Hampshire 236 (Francis 53, Smith 52, Blackwell 5-49) & 233-6 (Johnson 57)/

Edgbaston: Warwickshire (20pts) bt Kent (3pts) by 10 wkts. Warwickshire 565 (Troughton 115, Wagh 109, Ostler 80, Knight 69, Giles 68, Tredwell 4-103) & 8-0, Kent 252 (Nixon 103, Giles 5-74, Bond 4-70) & 317 (Ealham 83, Masters 68, Giles 7-142).

Division One table

P W L D Bt Bl Pts

Surrey 12 7 2 3 39 36 170.7

Kent 12 5 4 3 31 32 134.5

Warwickshire 11 5 2 4 26 31 133

Sussex 12 3 3 6 32 35 127

Leicestershire 11 3 4 4 30 31 112

Hampshire 12 2 2 8 25 35 108

Lancashire 11 3 3 5 20 29 105

Somerset 11 1 4 6 28 30 94

Yorkshire 12 1 6 5 26 34 91.5

Division Two

Chester-le-Street: Glamorgan (16pts) bt Durham (3pts) by ten wkts. Durham 124 (Kasprowicz 6-47, Thomas 4-023) & 114 (Kasprowicz 5-58, Croft 4-30), Glamorgan 233 (Davis 5-61) & 9-0.

Bristol: Gloucestershire (10 pts) drew with Northamptonshire (12pts). Gloucs 422 (Windows 83, Harvey 79, Spearman 71, Pearson 51, Cassar 6-34) & 446-7 (Gidman 117, Russell 104no, Fisher 69), Northamptonshire 746-9 dec (Hussey 310no, Swann 183, Sales 70, Penberthy 61).

Division Two Table

P W D L Bt Bl Pts

Middlesex 12 5 6 1 49 31 164

Worcs 12 6 4 2 40 32 160

Essex 12 6 3 3 31 34 148.5

Derbys 12 6 1 5 31 36 142

Glamorgan 12 5 3 4 28 34 134

Notts 11 6 1 4 24 33 131.7

Gloucs 12 1 6 5 36 33 104.2

Northants 12 2 3 7 31 29 95.5

Durham 11 1 3 7 17 28 69

Updated: 11:28 Monday, August 19, 2002