Yorkshire breathed a huge sigh of relief yesterday when they beat Kent by six wickets at Headingley to go 16 points clear of Lancashire at the top of the Championship table.

They had feared they would have eight points deducted after pitch liaison officer AC Smith was called in after 16 wickets had toppled on the second day.

With Kent being bowled out for 82 in their second innings and 11 wickets falling while Smith was present, White Rose followers feared the worst.

But ECB cricket operations manager Alan Fordham said that Smith had told Lord's that he had not seen enough of the match to put the pitch into the 'poor' category.

Headingley groundsman Andy Fogarty said he was delighted to hear that no points had been deducted.

"I accept it was not the best of pitches but it was prepared to the best of my ability and the way it has played has taken me a bit by surprise," he said.

Kent began the third day on 36 for three with a lead of only 16.

They were destroyed well before lunch by left-arm paceman Ryan Sidebottom who finished with six for 16 to give him astonishing match figures of 11 for 43, the best by a Yorkshire bowler since Chris Silverwood took 12 for 148 against the same opponents at Headingley in 1997.

Sidebottom was lethal from the moment he was brought on. In his first over he had Mark Ealham caught at second slip by David Byas and skipper Mark Fleming lbw.

He made it three wickets in nine balls by bowling Min Patel with one which kept low and he went on to bowl Paul Nixon off his gloves before breaking a spirited last-wicket stand by dismissing David Masters to a catch at second slip by Matthew Wood.

Yorkshire still had plenty of work to do in order to reach their 63 target and they lost Michael Vaughan to the third ball of Martin Saggers' first over when he was comprehensively bowled.

Byas tamely drove Masters to mid-off to bring in Darren Lehmann and the Australian's skill made the pitch look easy.

He lost Blakey lbw to Ealham and saw Wood caught behind off a snorter from Saggers but Gary Fellows then matched him shot for shot as Yorkshire romped home.

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