Yorkshire, who need all the help they can get in their battle against relegation, picked up one further batting point against Nottinghamshire at Headingley yesterday when only 15 overs were possible because of bad weather.

Following a blank morning, Yorkshire resumed after an early lunch on 294 for eight and captain Craig White took his marathon innings to 147 in 437 minutes before being last out at 306.

With only last man Deon Kruis left to accompany him, White decided to fling the bat but he got a top edge to a ball from Charlie Shreck which flew to Graeme Swann running in from third man.

White had faced 319 deliveries and faced 319 balls and had he carried his bat he would have become the first Yorkshire player to do so at Headingley since Geoff Boycott hit an unbeaten 55 out of 183 against Warwickshire in 1984.

The only other instance of a Yorkshire player achieving the feat on the ground was Herbert Sutcliffe against Hampshire in 1932 when he contributed 104 not out to a final score of 170.

Steven Patterson had partnered White when the innings resumed and he gave the impression of being the senior batsman by facing 31 balls to his captain's four and it was the seam bowler's cover drive off Shreck for three that took Yorkshire to the 300 mark and a third batting bonus point.

Soon afterwards, however, Shreck produced a good delivery which moved away from Patterson, who edged a catch to wicketkeeper David Alleyne to end a valuable ninth-wicket stand of 49.

Jason Gillespie and Deon Kruis shared the new ball for Yorkshire against Will Smith and David Alleyne but only ten had been scored in three overs when there was a short break for bad light.

With the light still poor on the resumption, Adil Rashid soon took over from Kruis at the Kirkstall Lane end but after four balls the players were off again with the score on 21 and the murkiness was quickly followed by a tremendous storm.

Meanwhile, the ECB have ruled that Steve Harmison will not be able to play for Durham against Yorkshire at Headingley next week in the final Championship match of the season.

They want the England fast bowler to allow more time for further rehabilitation on his back injury.