A century from Leicester-shire Foxes' Australian Brad Hodge condemned Yorkshire Phoenix to their fifth consecutive National League defeat at Headingley yesterday and left them embedded at the foot of the Division One table.

The defeat meant Yorkshire had conceded the double to their opponents, Hodge playing a part in his side's earlier win at Grace Road with 47 and then causing Phoenix more pain last week with 97 in the Twenty20 Cup competition.

Hodge's 104 off 119 balls with 13 fours enabled Leicestershire to reach a competitive 251 for eight which proved too stiff for Yorkshire, although 18-year-old paceman Tim Bresnan made a brave attempt to turn the tables with a fiercely-struck 61 that narrowed Leicestershire's victory margin to 18 runs.

Yorkshire received a setback before the start when New Zealander Stephen Fleming pulled out because of a bruised big toe but he should be fit for tomorrow's Twenty20 Cup game against Nottinghamshire at Headingley.

Ryan Sidebottom and Chris Silverwood made good use of the new ball and at 18 Phil DeFreitas had his leg stump plucked out by Silverwood, but it was Yorkshire's last success for a while.

Indian Virender Sehwag and Hodge then added 126 in 24 overs which was Leicester-shire's biggest stand for any wicket between the sides, beating the 117 between James Whitaker and Darren Maddy at Leicester six years ago.

Sehwag punished Bresnan with five fours in two overs as both batsmen cruised past 50, but when Sehwag had reached 65 off 80 balls with 11 boundaries he clipped Silverwood to Vic Craven on the square-leg fence.

Hodge slammed five consecutive boundaries off Yuvraj Singh's left-arm spin before blocking the final delivery of the over, and his century came off 116 balls out of 223 for three.

After adding one further four, he was bowled by Bresnan swinging to leg, his century being the first against Yorkshire in a coloured clothing match since Nasser Hussain's 122 for Essex at Headingley in 1999.

Silverwood failed in his pinch-hitter role, giving catching practice to Darren Stevens at slip in the first over from Charlie Dagnall, but Matthew Wood and Yuvraj both profited from being dropped at backward point by Jeremy Snape and added 80 in 13 overs.

The Indian completed a stylish 50 off 44 balls with seven fours and a six but had not added to his score when Snape made amends at backward point with a brilliant one-handed catch diving to his left.

It seemed all over until Sidebottom joined Bresnan in a ninth-wicket stand of 53 in seven overs, Bresnan hitting 17 off one Maddy over.