Cricket: Nottinghamshire struggle on

Yorkshire 364 Nottinghamshire 148-7

After Thursday's 31 overs, the action yesterday was briefer but no less traumatic for Nottinghamshire, who stumbled from 116 for 4 to 148 for 7 in the 56 minutes of play that was possible before rain arrived just before noon.

They remain 67 runs short of avoiding the follow-on and it is still possible Yorkshire will go home with 24 points despite losing so much time. To make matters worse, Nottinghamshire lost their captain, Paul Johnson, who retired hurt after being struck on the left hand by Craig White.

Johnson spent time off the field on Wednesday after tweaking a hamstring and an X-ray yesterday revealed a fractured little finger, which may mean enforced rest of two to three weeks.

What with Yorkshire making 364 after being put in, it has not been a good match for Johnson. He is the third of his county's batsmen to suffer a broken bone in the hand this season, following Tim Robinson and Paul Pollard. Not over-blessed with experience, Nottinghamshire can ill-afford to lose players of Johnson's quality from a batting line-up whose fragility has been exposed here.

It was a pitch offering a bit of spite for White and Peter Hartley. White, who had taken three wickets in 20 balls on Thursday, caused problems for Johnson from the outset. Hartley made the first breakthrough with no addition to the overnight score, when Nathan Astle, who had attacked the ball with some zest before his innings was interrupted, drove rather loosely on the off-side and sliced the ball to Richard Kettleborough in the gully.

Hartley soon struck again as Usman Afzaal edged a catch to second slip and, after Johnson disappeared, Wayne Noon had his off stump knocked out of the ground by a White full toss.

n Gloucestershire will not know until tonight if any action is to be taken over their controversial new wicket at Bristol, where 25 wickets have fallen in two days of the current match with Middlesex.