Wood and Lumb thwart India A to force draw

Matthew Wood and Michael Lumb continued their joust at the top of the Yorkshire batting charts as time condemned the three-day match against India A at Headingley to a draw.

That Yorkshire staved off the faint threat of defeat, evoked by the concession of a 90-run first-innings deficit, owed much to Wood and Lumb, whose partnership of 104 for the third wicket provided the centrepiece of their 296 for 6 declared.

Wood made 88 while Lumb scored a second successive half-century. Wood's innings may have been less pleasing on the eye than Lumb's 56, but it preserved his status as Yorkshire's leading first-class run-scorer this season. His tally stands at 727, 28 more than Lumb. That almost two-thirds of his 341 runs came in the first innings of the season against Northamptonshire says much for Yorkshire's struggles with the bat.

In the morning session,Vic Craven was bowled by Kartik Murali four short of his 50, the first of three wickets for the left-arm spinner. Wood opened his shoulders after lunch, but his partnership with Lumb, spanning 26 overs, ended when the left-hander drove Lakshmipathy Balaji to mid-off.

Wood departed shortly after Lumb, caught behind off Murali, and Balaji induced an outside edge from Gary Fellows to leave Yorkshire on 214 for 5, a lead of 124.

Blakey was beaten by Murali's arm ball, but any hopes India had of bowling Yorkshire out were dashed by Craig White and Andy Gray in an unbroken seventh-wicket stand stand of 47.