An unbeaten century from Anthony McGrath and 92 from Matthew Wood saved the day for Yorkshire and earned them a well-deserved but dreary draw in their Championship match against Kent at Canterbury on Saturday.

McGrath had reached 123 off 252 balls with 14 boundaries when Yorkshire declared on 263 for two to end the match.

The ten points Yorkshire got out of the game were sufficient to keep them out of the two relegation places because the teams directly below them, Nottinghamshire and Middlesex, both lost.

They each have a game in hand over Yorkshire, however, who must sharpen up their act soon if they are to move away from the danger zone.

Kent were the guilty party in making the contest as dull as ditchwater for they never showed the slightest inclination to take control when they were in a position to dictate events during their innings.

They seemed perfectly content to take the safe route to a draw and in the end they finished up with only one point more than Yorkshire, who are still seeking their first win of the season.

Yorkshire set out on the final day on two without loss, needing a further 149 to avoid the innings defeat, and there was an early setback when Joe Sayers cut Justin Kemp to backward point where he was caught by Rob Key.

Like Wood, Sayers was in desperate need of a big score and in six innings to date he has mustered only 43.

The general view was that on a wearing pitch Kent would win easily if they had a couple of good spinners but neither left-armer Robert Ferley nor Martin van Jaarsveld were able to stop the comfortable progress of Wood and McGrath, who batted throughout the afternoon session.

They managed during that time to wipe out the arrears and had put on 177 together in 71 overs when Wood swivelled round at Darren Stevens, who had changed from medium pace to off-spin, and was bowled by a delivery which did not get up. He had faced 256 balls and struck seven fours but a rash stroke had cost him his first century since August, 2004.

There was to be no denying McGrath, who calmly moved to his century off 226 balls with 11 fours. It was his 18th for Yorkshire and came exactly ten years after his first which was also on the St Lawrence ground.