After the Yorkshire dressing room had raised a champagne glass to Darren Lehmann at Headingley on Saturday, Craig White stunned the players by telling them he was giving up the captaincy after doing the job for three years.

And soon afterwards, Yorkshire announced they were parting ways with former England off-spinner Richard Dawson, who had just been told he had not been given a new contract for next season.

The two items of shock news came almost immediately after Yorkshire had drawn their final Championship match of the season with Durham, a result which meant both sides had escaped relegation.

Yorkshire chief executive Stewart Regan and former president Robin Smith joined the players for a celebratory glass of champagne, at which they toasted the team's survival in Division One.

They also drank to Lehmann, who returned to Australia yesterday at the end of seven monumental seasons with the county during an association going back to 1997.

Soon after informing his team-mates of his decision, White told the T&A exclusively: "I have served as captain for the past three seasons and I believe the time is now right to make way for someone else.

"I led the team to promotion in the Championship last season and we have managed to stay up this year. I am proud of my record and I believe that having stayed up we can win the title next year.

"I am not surprised at our revival in recent weeks because we have only shown just what we are capable of doing - but I am surprised that we didn't perform better earlier in the season.

"It is quite mind-boggling why we didn't click earlier, considering the team that we have got. It is so encouraging to have two young leg-spinners of the quality of Mark Lawson and Adil Rashid and I think they will be able to do practically anything next year.

"I am still contracted as a player for next season and I will support to the hilt whoever takes over as captain."

Regan revealed the board would hold discussions over the captaincy as soon as they had collected their thoughts but there was no need to rush at this stage.

"Craig remains a vital part of our batting line-up and his performances in recent games have been particularly impressive," said Regan.

"There is no doubting his commitment to Yorkshire and his decision to stand down as captain has probably taken a monkey off his back."

Director of cricket David Byas added: "Craig has given 120 per cent. He took us up to Division One of the Champ-ionship and we have stayed there and I would like to say a huge thank you to him. He has done as much as he can."

White will have been aware that behind-the-scenes talks about the captaincy have been going on for a while and he may have wisely pre-empted any moves to oust him by getting in first. He has been a popular captain in what is sometimes seen as a divided dressing room on other matters and Yorkshire may now decide to appoint a successor from outside, otherwise Bradford-born Anthony McGrath must be favourite to be given the job for a second time.

Dawson's departure comes as no surprise because he has failed to produce anywhere near his best form for a couple of seasons and he was axed from this year's Champion-ship side at around the half-year stage, having taken eight wickets at an average of 87.62 runs apiece. His one-day performances have also been disappointing.

Dawson, who made his debut for Yorkshire in 2001, played in 72 first-class matches, scoring 2,298 runs for an average of 23.69 and taking 157 wickets at 41.04 runs apiece. In all one-day matches he collected 90 wickets at 30.12.

Yorkshire eventually drew their match with Durham after their opponents had fought a brave and successful rearguard action to save themselves from relegation.

Captain Dale Benkenstein and Ottis Gibson each went beyond 150 while piling up 315 together, a Durham record for any wicket, but once they were dismissed the tail caved in and Durham fell ten runs short of avoiding the follow-on, despite making 518.

They lost two quick wickets to Deon Kruis second time around but were saved by a maiden unbeaten century from Garry Park, who made exactly 100 off 126 balls with 11 fours before Durham declared on 181 for three to end the match.