Yorkshire's gallant attempt to become the only team to beat new title-holders Surrey in the PPP healthcare Championship was foiled by the weather in the final match of the season at The Oval.

Skipper David Byas set Surrey a 201 target off a minimum of 43 overs and they were in some trouble at 56 for four with 22 overs gone when bad light brought the game to a premature close.

Had Yorkshire won they would have secured third place in the table and received �22,000 in prize money but in the event they had to settle for sixth position - and no cash reward.

Although three places lower than last season, Yorkshire made sure of staying in the top flight when the Championship splits into two divisions next year and they also did enough to preserve their Division One status in the CGU National Cricket League by coming fifth.

Yorkshire picked up �25,000 for reaching the final of the Benson & Hedges Super Cup and �16,000 for making it to the semi-final of the NatWest Trophy, but in both of these big matches they were beaten by Gloucestershire although the margin in the NatWest encounter at Bristol was only six runs.

In the Championship, Yorkshire's record of eight wins was equalled only by Lancashire and exceeded only by Surrey. The fact that they could only manage sixth place was largely due to the collective failure of their batsmen who picked up just 21 bonus points throughout the season, leaving only Worcestershire with fewer on 18.

But their bowlers helped restore the balance, despite a long catalogue of injuries throughout the summer, and they collected 64 bonus points between them, a figure surpassed only by Durham.

Michael Vaughan, picked for England's tour of South Africa along with Gavin Hamilton, became the only Yorkshire batsman since Ashley Metcalfe in 1990 to score a century in each innings of a championship match when he hit 100 and 151 against Essex at Chelmsford while the best match aggregate came from Australian Greg Blewett who hit 98 and 190 off Northamptonshire's attack at Scarborough.

Paul Hutchison, out for much of the season with continuing back problems, returned the season's best figures of six for 35 against Worcestershire, but the most successful bowler in the championship was Chris Silverwood with a total of 59 wickets at an average of 20.40 runs apiece.

The Yorkshire players' player-of-the-year award went to Anthony McGrath who secured his place in the side at the beginning of the season and then batted with such confidence and style that he was awarded this first team cap at Scarborough. Later on, his medium paces were increasingly used - and with such success that he can expect to become a genuine all-rounder next season.