Yorkshire knew they would have to tear up the record book if they were to beat Northamptonshire at Wantage Road today and make it through to the quarter-finals of the NatWest Trophy.

Three times previously the sides have met in the competition and Northants have emerged winners on all three occasions, the last being at the semi-final stages at Headingley in 1995.

Their confidence has been further boosted by their 60 runs win over Yorkshire in the National League only ten days' ago, but they still go into today's match as second favourites.

Yorkshire should simply have too much firepower for their opponents, particularly as Gavin Hamilton passed a fitness test on his injured knee at Headingley yesterday and was able to travel to Northampton with the rest of the squad.

Yorkshire continue to have greater bowling resources than anyone else in the country, but their batting is more of a worry this season with no-one so far making a startling impact.

In 15 limited overs matches to date, the highest individual score remains skipper David Byas's 71 against Leicestershire in the National League, and even Australian Darren Lehmann has been nothing more than average, having hit two half-centuries.

Another worry for Yorkshire today is the uncertain weather and with the forecast pretty pessimistic there is every chance of the game having to go into a second day.

The floodlit one-day international between West Indies and New Zealand A at Bristol was abandoned without a ball being bowled because of persistent heavy rain.

Today's matches

NatWest Trophy

Fourth round, Riverside: Durham v Hampshire; Canterbury: Kent v Glamorgan; Old Trafford: Lancashire v Essex; Southgate: Middlesex v Somerset; Northampton: Northamptonshire v Yorkshire; The Oval: Surrey v Sussex; Edgbaston: Warwickshire v Derbyshire.

Singer Cup

Galle (1 day, 45 overs): Sri Lanka 7-1 (2 overs) v Pakistan - 164-8 (Inzamam Ul-Haq 83no, Zoysa 4-34)