Nottinghamshire and Yorkshire played out a draw at Trent Bridge which left the visitors still under threat of relegation at the foot of the LV County Championship Division One table.

Yorkshire began the day 173 runs ahead with eight second innings wickets in hand so the onus was on skipper Anthony McGrath to engineer a declaration to try to force a result.

But with Notts unlikely to overhaul leaders Durham in the chase for the title and under no compulsion to help Yorkshire along, the two sides could not agree on a target.

Spectators were instead left with the unedifying sight of part-time bowlers Alex Hales and Scott Newman sending down the majority of overs to Yorkshire's batsmen, with Jonathan Bairstow making 82 and Richard Pyrah 50 not out before the game was brought to a close with Yorkshire 519 for eight.

The result leaves Notts on 168 points, 27 behind Durham, while Yorkshire move out of the relegation zone on 136 points but having played a game more than fellow strugglers Sussex and Hampshire.

Even though the two captains could not come to an agreement on a fourth innings run-chase, Yorkshire could still have gone on the attack in an attempt to force the pace ahead of a declaration.

Instead, the not out batsmen McGrath and Andrew Gale employed bemusing tactics which saw them add only 68 runs in 31 overs in the morning, offering a dead bat to the Notts bowlers.

Gale was bowled by Darren Pattinson for nine off a thick inside edge and Paul Franks removed McGrath for 40 with a delivery that kept a fraction low.

Bairstow and Gerard Brophy continued to play defensively and Notts captain Chris Read demonstrated what he thought of the situation after lunch when he took off his wicketkeeping gear so he could bowl as Bilal Shafayat took over behind the stumps.

Brophy's attempted paddle-sweep ended up in the hands of Ali Brown at slip before opening batsman Hales picked up the first two wickets of his first-class career with a mixture of off and leg-spin, Bairstow edging to Brown and Ajmal Shahzad bowled for 45.

Notts ended up using nine bowlers in the innings and Brown had time to pick up the sixth wicket of his 18-year career with a return catch off David Wainwright.

Stumps were drawn at 4.20pm and while Notts take on Durham next week at Chester-le-Street in a match that could confirm Durham's retention of the title, Yorkshire may find themselves rueing their tactics come the end of the season.