COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIP DIVISION ONE, Headingley
Yorkshire v Worcestershire
28 April-1 May
FINAL DAY: Match Drawn. Yorkshire 460-6, Worcestershire 405-3(Yorks 10 pts, Worcs 11 pts)

Solanki came to the wicket with Worcestershire on 3-1

Worcestershire pair Vikram Solanki and Moeen Ali rewrote an old county record as the game with Yorkshire crawled to an inevitable draw at Headingley.

Moeen hit a maiden first-class century (153) out of 405-3 on another rain-hit day before play was finally abandoned.

He also helped skipper Solanki (206 no)take their unbroken third wicket stand to 317, surpassing the highest stand by a Worcester pair against Yorkshire.

It eclipsed the 243 set at New Road in 1933 by Maurice Nichol and Sid Martin.

But, when Moeen was caught behind off Ajmal Shahzad and they were finally parted in the less than enthusiastically-received final session of the match, it was a long way short of Worcestershire's county third-wicket record.

That remains the unbroken 438 partnership (also the county's best-ever partnership for any wicket) between Graeme Hick and Tom Moody at Southampton in 1997.

Solanki's 26th first-class century, which helped his side earn maximum batting points, continued his fine individual start to the season.

He had gone into this match with three successive half centuries from Worcestershire's two previous County Championship defeats.

We just looked to survive and not go loose and as we went on the 50s came quicker Moeen Ali on his partnership with Solanki

And, after hitting 73 in the second innings against Hampshire, followed by 50 and 64 against Nottinghamshire, the Worcestershire captain is now averaging almost 100 after clocking up 399 runs in five County Championship innings.

In reply to Yorkshire's 460-6 declared, Worcestershire still needed a further 211 to avoid the follow-on when they resumed on Friday morning on 100-2.

But it soon became clear that the weather had already effectively claimed the final word on this fixture.

After two successive away defeats, this at least stops the rot for Steve Rhodes' men heading into next week's home Championship opener against Lancashire at New Road.

Prior to that comes Monday's Friends Provident Trophy date with Nottinghamshire, the county's first home game this season following their winter ground redevelopment.

And batsman Ben Smith, who pulled out of the game at Headingley after dislocating his finger, hopes to be fit for duty.

Yorkshire captain Anthony McGrath told BBC Radio Leeds:

"It's been frustrating really, with all the stop-starting due to the bad weather.

"The pitch got better as the game went on, but to be honest even if we'd had great weather for the four days I don't think we would have got a result on that pitch.

"We did some good things over the four days, we just need to get a whole game in and get that first win."

Worcestershire centurion Moeen Ali told BBC Hereford & Worcester:

"I've been waiting for a while. I've got a 90 and a couple of 80s and I was quite nervous.

"For my own game I think I need to be patient and play my shots.

"We just looked to survive and not go loose and, as we went on, the 50s just came quicker and quicker."

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