Yorkshire met with much firmer resistance after Derbyshire had been forced to follow on 316 runs behind at Derby yesterday and the Tykes still have some work to do if they are to claim their second consecutive Championship victory.

Derbyshire closed on 238-5 with a further 78 needed to avoid the innings defeat, the fightback being led by Indian Mohammad Kaif who remained unbeaten on a solid 76 off 199 balls with seven fours and a six.

Yorkshire looked off the pace from the start of play and they seemed unable to convince themselves they could wrap up a comfortable win inside three days.

Derbyshire resumed their wrecked first innings on 80-8 and although Steve Kirby and Ryan Sidebottom had done most of the damage the previous evening they looked on as Tim Bresnan and off-spinner Andy Gray shared the attack for the opening few overs.

It was a strange tactic but one which was fully appreciated by Nathan Dumelow who smacked Gray for two enormous sixes either side of dashing to his unbeaten 60.

However, the resistance was ended when Tom Lungley fell lbw to Sidebottom and Kevin Dean followed a ball later after a yorker from the Tykes' left arm pace bowler who finished with 6-38.

Andrew Gait and Michael Di Venuto began at a cracking pace for Derbyshire when they batted again and 38 came from ten overs before Gait received a ball which spat at him from Bresnan and leaped off the shoulder of the bat to Gray at third slip.

For the remainder of the day, Yorkshire had to work hard for their occasional successes and Gray was used for 36 overs in the longest bowl of his career. He only managed one wicket when Dominic Hewson lost patience and skied a catch to substitute Pieter Swanepoel at mid-on, but he bowled intelligently and will have gained valuable experience.

Chris Bassano had earlier been superbly caught at gully by Craig White as he lashed out loosely at Kirby but Di Venuto continued to hold things together until he was sensationally held at second slip by Yuvraj Singh who scooped up the ball from around his boots.

The left-hander had compiled a fluent 74, his third Championship half-century of the season against Yorkshire, and after Hewson had gone Luke Sutton joined Kaif in a gritty stand of 86 in 34 overs to cause further frustrations.

The fifth-wicket pair were finally parted by a moment of carelessness, Sutton turning for a second after Bresnan misfielded at square leg, but the batsman could not beat Bresnan's throw to the wicketkeeper.

Dominic Cork was then dropped by Yuvraj, but that was the last scare of the day for Derbyshire who fought back in plucky style with Kaif playing his best innings yet for his adopted county.

Updated: 10:46 Saturday, July 05, 2003