YORKSHIRE made Gavin Hamilton wait almost four years for his debut for the county in the Benson and Hedges Cup. Worcestershire were left to wish his big moment had been postponed a while longer.

For it was Hamilton, who played in the competition for his native Scotland before joining Yorkshire, who settled this rain-affected qualifier with a devastating burst of seam bowling that brought him four wickets for six runs in 10 balls.

His first victim was Tom Moody, the Worcestershire captain, bowled off an inside edge. Stuart Lampitt soon followed, caught at slip by David Byas, and two balls later Steve Rhodes was caught at the wicket by Richard Blakey.

The dismissal of Richard Illingworth from the next delivery, also taken by Byas at slip, enabled Hamilton, 23, who has yet to decide whether to play for Scotland in next year's World Cup, to spend the intervening over contemplating his first hat-trick for the county.

It was not to be. But with Worcestershire reduced to 64 for eight from 21 overs, the damage had been done, despite a sturdy rearguard action by Phil Newport, David Leatherdale and Alamgir Sheriyar.

With one eye on the weather and another on the vagaries of the Duckworth-Lewis scoring system, Yorkshire made the worst possible start when they lost Michael Vaughan, well caught by the diving Vikram Solanki, in Gavin Haynes's second over.

And the departure of the in-form Byas, leg before as he shaped to turn Haynes through the on side, plus a couple of stoppages for rain did nothing to allay the anxiety of a crowd unaccustomed to the rarefied atmosphere at the top of the championship.

Their fears were unfounded, however, as Anthony McGrath, Darren Lehmann and Craig White eased Yorkshire home with 15 balls to spare.