Durham retained their Division One status following a comfortable draw in their Liverpool Victoria County Championship clash with Yorkshire at Headingley with the hosts also remaining in the top flight.

Although a record stand of 315 between Dale Benkenstein and Ottis Gibson could not prevent them from following on, an unbeaten second-innings century from Garry Park meant they secured the 10 points they needed and sent Nottinghamshire tumbling down with Middlesex.

Drizzle and bad light caused a 75-minutes delay at the start of the day before Durham were able to resume on 411 for six with Benkenstein on 116 and Gibson 104, their stand being worth 220.

Neither batsman looked in any trouble as they exceeded the previous highest seventh- wicket stand by any county against Yorkshire of 248 between Lancashire's Graeme Lloyd and Ian Austin and they were still together at lunch when only 84 were required to make Yorkshire bat again.

The highest Durham stand for any wicket of 258 between Martin Love and John Lewis against Nottinghamshire at Riverside in 2001 was overtaken soon after lunch when Benkenstein hooked Tim Bresnan for six.

Both batsmen cruised past the 150 mark and only 22 were need for safety when Benkenstein swept at Mark Lawson and lobbed a catch to wicketkeeper Simon Guy for 151 from 223 balls with 16 fours and a six.

Then, in the following over, Gibson was bowled offering no stroke at Adil Rashid after making 155 from 251 deliveries with 15 fours and four sixes.

Suddenly, leg-spinner Rashid caused all sorts of problems for the tail-enders and he grabbed the last three wickets for no runs in 11 balls to finish off Durham for 518, 10 runs short of avoiding the follow-on.

Durham were 159 in arrears with 46 overs remaining when they went out to bat again and they briefly sensed danger as Deon Kruis trapped openers Jimmy Maher and Gary Scott lbw in a fiery opening spell which reduced them to 16 for two inside eight overs, Benkenstein finding himself back in after only an hour away from the crease.

Darren Lehmann, in his final session of country cricket, led Yorkshire out after tea and a third wicket went down at 83 when Benkenstein was caught at slip off Rashid, but

Park remained firmly in charge, supported at the other end by Ben Harmison, and they wiped out the arrears with 11 overs remaining.

Park hit two consecutive fours through mid-wicket off Mark Lawson to reach his maiden century in only his second Championship match off 126 balls with 11 fours, at which point Durham declared at 181 for three, 22 runs ahead, shortly before the final half hour to end the contest.

Yorkshire took 11 points out of the game and their late-season revival lifted them to sixth place in the table, half a point in front of Durham.

(reopens) Craig White said after Yorkshire's match against Durham at Headingley that he is standing down as Yorkshire captain after three years in the job.

The former England all-rounder said: "I think the time has come for someone else to take over - and now is the appropriate moment to go.

"I led Yorkshire to promotion last season and we have stayed up this year. I am proud of my record and I will support to the hilt whoever takes over as captain."

White still has a year to run on his playing contract.

Yorkshire also announced that they will not be renewing the contract of former England off-spinner Richard Dawson for the 2007 season.

Chief executive Stewart Regan said Dawson was now in the second team on a salary which was not sustainable and that the player was upset by the decision but had accepted it.