Having scaled the heights over the past week, Yorkshire plumbed the depths yesterday when they crashed by six wickets to Sussex at Hove in the AXA League after being bowled out for a derisory 89 in 37 overs.

The defeat, their first in nine years by Sussex, leaves Yorkshire uncertain of finishing in the top half of the table and they must now beat Warwickshire in the final match at Headingley on Sunday to be sure of a place in Division One of the new National League next season.

Batting first after winning the toss, Yorkshire simply couldn't cope with accurate medium pace bowling on a slow seaming pitch and runs were so hard to come by that only two boundaries were scored off the bat in the entire innings - a third coming by way of four overthrows.

All six members of the Sussex attack caused problems and none more so than the new-ball pair of Robin Martin-Jenkins and James Kirtley who each recorded career-best figures, Martin Jenkins conceding only 12 runs in his eight consecutive overs for two wickets while Kirtley claimed four for 21 in two spells.

Former Yorkshire paceman Mark Robinson also gave virtually nothing away and he had the satisfaction of dismissing skipper David Byas.

Yorkshire were soon 17 for three as Martin-Jenkins dismissed openers Craig White and Michael Vaughan while Matthew Wood was bowled pushing defensively forward at Kirtley to register his third duck in his six AXA League innings.

After Byas had gone, Bradley Parker was caught checking his drive at Keith Newell, Richard Blakey was run out by a direct hit and Chris Silverwood was bowled by Adams.

Gavin Hamilton carefully accumulated his side's top score of 20 but ran out of partners as Kirtley came back to polish off the tail. He took a return catch off Ian Fisher, pinned Matthew Hoggard lbw next ball and just missed a hat-trick as last man Paul Hutchison jabbed down on a yorker.

The extra pace of Yorkshire's fast bowlers made them less suited to the pitch than Sussex had been and Rajesh Rao and Martin-Jenkins had no difficulty in despatching the ball to the boundary.

Rao was the more prominent early on, striking both Silverwood and Paul Hutchison for four in the first two overs, but Martin-Jenkins, who turned in a splendid all-round performance, cover drove Hutchison to the fence and later took consecutive boundaries off Fisher through mid-off and square leg to raise the 50 in the 14th over.

The stand was not broken until 63 when Rao stumbled after turning for a second that was never on and he was unable to beat Parker's return to the bowler, Hamilton.

The dismissal triggered a mini-collapse but Sussex still managed to ease home to complete a miserable afternoon for the Yorkshire side.

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