Gloucestershire's championship game with Yorkshire was allowed to fade away into a draw on Saturday as captains Craig Spearman and Matthew Wood adopted a cautious approach.

The fight for the third promotion place in Division Two is so tight that they were each happy to settle for four points for a draw rather than risk defeat.

Wood had not been ready to buy a declaration while it was safety first for Kiwi Spearman, who was leading the home side in place of the injured Mark Alleyne.

When he finally closed the innings on 284-6 he had left Yorkshire to score 322 at the rate of seven an over.

After an initial burst of pace he quickly turned to his battery of spinners but was still into the 21st of the standard 45 overs before his first success.

Then Shoaib Malik pinned down the left-hander Stephen Fleming leg before for 16 out of 43 on the board.

The former Yorkshire left-arm spinner Ian Fisher removed Wood five overs later for 73, but the end came with Yorkshire on 75-4 taking eight points out of the match to the home side's nine.

SATURDAY SCORES

First One Day International Cairns: Bangladesh 105 (B Lee 4-25) v Australia 107-2. Australia won by 8 wkts.

Frizzell County Championship

Division One Grace Road: Leicestershire 259 (P A J DeFreitas 57, D I Stevens 54, G Keedy 4-17) & 287 (J K Maunders 75, D I Stevens 50), Lancashire 479 (S G Law 186, C L Hooper 117, P A J DeFreitas 6-88) & 68-3. Lancs won by 7 wkts. Trent Bridge Nottinghamshire 254 (K P Pietersen 67, A A Noffke 5-52) & 169 (G E Welton 69, J H Dawes 5-46, C B Keegan 5-39), Middlesex 278 (S G Koenig 75, S C G MacGill 4-78, G J Smith 4-57) & 146-6. Middlesex won by 4 wkts. Hove: Sussex 429 (C J Adams 107, R R Montgomerie 90, M W Goodwin 75, J Ormond 4-106) & 302-5 dec (T R Ambrose 76 no, M J Prior 50 no), Surrey 355 (M R Ramprakash 104, Saqlain Mushtaq 68, Mushtaq Ahmed 4-123) & 114-1 (J N Batty 65 no). Match drawn.

Division Two Cheltenham: Gloucestershire 263 (M G N Windows 73, S P Kirby 6-101) & 284-6 dec (C M Spearman 94, Shoaib Malik 60, M G N Windows 57, S P Kirby 4-82), Yorkshire 226 (G M Hamilton 68) & 75-2. Match drawn.

Tour Match

Edgbaston: Warwicks 537 (I J L Trott 78, T Frost 76, I R Bell 75, G G Wagg 74, M J Powell 68, A Mishra 5-183), India A 181 (S S Das 51, I R Bell 4-12) & 449-2 dec (W Jaffer 218, S Sriram 104 no, S S Das 65). Match drawn.

Under 19 Test Match

Headingley: England Under 19 327 (S R Patel 61, J J Sayers 60, W C Hantam 5-86) & 197 (S R Patel 55, V Philander 5-50, W C Hantam 4-27), South Africa Under 19 297 (H W le Roux 74, I Khan 61, D Smit 51, T T Bresnan 5-81) & 113-3 (R de Kock 59).

YESTERDAY'S SCORES

Second One Day International Cairns: Bangladesh 147 v Australia 148-1 (D R Martyn 92 no) Australia won by 9 wkts.

Frizzell County Championship

Division Two The Rose Bowl: Hampshire 278 (S M Katich 117) & 227-2 dec (J P Crawley 81 no, S M Katich 79 no), Northants 176 (T W Roberts 60, S M Katich 4-21) & 330-5 (M E K Hussey 100, D J G Sales 75). Northants won by 5 wkts. New Road: Worcestershire 237 (G J Batty 60, D A Leatherdale 50, D S Harrison 4-52, A G Wharf 4-63) & 257 (B F Smith 87, S D Peters 56, R D B Croft 4-69) v Glamorgan 156 (I J Thomas 53) & 324 (J P Maher 95, M A Wallace 55, R D B Croft 51 no, Kabir Ali 4-96). Worcs won by 14 runs.

National Cricket League

Division One Cheltenham: Yorkshire Phoenix 183 (J M M Averis 4-50), Gloucestershire Gladiators 184-2 (C M Spearman 93 no, W P C Weston 62). Glos won by 8 wkts. Canterbury: Kent Spitfires 254-9(M A Ealham 73, G O Jones 58), Essex Eagles 254-9 (A Flower 100, W I Jefferson 58, M J Saggers 4-36). Tied. Grace Road: Leicestershire Foxes 172-10 (P A Nixon 51, Waqar Younis 4-37), Warwickshire Bears 173-6 (N V Knight 50), Warwicks won by 4 wkts.

Division Two Derby: Derbyshire Scorpions 259-8 (M J Di Venuto 106, T F Bloomfield 4-25), Middlesex Crusaders 260-6 (O A Shah 66, A J Strauss 57, P N Weekes 54). Middlesex won by 4 wkts. Riverside: Durham Dynamos 187, Somerset Sabres 189-6 (I D Blackwell 79 no, Shoaib Akhtar 5-35). Somerset won by 4 wkts. Cleethorpes: Lancashire Lightning 210-9 (C L Hooper 71), Nottinghamshire Outlaws 185 (K P Pietersen 54, U Afzaal 51) Lancs won by 25 runs. Hove: Sussex Sharks 270-4 (M W Goodwin 106, C J Adams 95 no), Scottish Saltires 272-4 (J C Kent 115 no, R Dravid 69). Scotland won by 6 wkts.