Yorkshire gradually staged a sound recovery in their PPP Champion-ship match against Essex at Chelmsford today after suffering an early shock with the dismissal of Australian Greg Blewett for only four.

Michael Vaughan and skipper David Byas then helped to justify Yorkshire's decision to bat first on winning the toss by moving the score on to 70 for one with 18 overs bowled.

The game began in bright sunshine and in left-armer Mark Ilott's first over, Blewett leg-glanced him to the boundary for the first runs of the day.

Vaughan then played out a maiden against Ilott's new ball partner, Ashley Cowan, before Blewett pushed well forward at Ilott and was given out lbw by umpire 'Pasty' Harris.

Byas straight away forced Ilott backward of point for four and Vaughan, anxious for a good score after only 68 runs from his first six championship innings, moved off the mark with two off Cowan.

Six years ago, on the same ground, Byas scored a memorable 156

Today's games

PPP Healthcare County Championship Derby: Northamptonshire 50-2 (20 overs) v Derbyshire. Old Trafford: Nottinghamshire 71-4 (19.5overs) v Lancashire. Lord's: Middlesex 42-2 (19 overs)v Hampshire. Taunton: Somerset 78-1 (18.3 overs) v Leicestershire. Hove: Sussex v Gloucestershire 47-0 (20.3 overs). Edgbaston: Warwickshire 70-0 (18.4 overs) v Worcestershire. The Parks: Glamorgan 61-0 v Oxford University..

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