Sussex v Yorkshire: Yorkshire head for the exit door after wayward effort

And while the offending emblem of great rivals Lancashire was easily covered up by sheets of blank paper before Andrew Gale’s men arrived at Hove, there is no hiding the fear among supporters that the White Rose county are in danger of wilting in 2011.

Already out of the Twenty20 Cup and now, effectively, the CB40 competition following a 76-run reverse to Sussex Sharks, Yorkshire’s season is now all about securing Championship survival.

Next week’s four-day meeting with bottom club Hampshire was already of paramount importance before this latest defeat in the 40-over competition.

However, with little but pride left to play for in the remaining five limited overs fixtures which start with Sunday’s trip to the Netherlands, it is the only game that matters right now.

It will, therefore, be interesting to see the make-up of the Carnegie squad that heads across the North Sea this weekend with the temptation surely being to rest several key players ahead of the Rose Bowl encounter.

Certainly, on the evidence of a one-sided match with Group A leaders Sussex, the chance of a couple of days off is likely to be welcomed after what has been a long and draining campaign.

Carnegie were rarely in this encounter, even allowing for the impressive manner in which Adil Rashid and David Wainwright managed to put the brakes on the Sharks after a blistering start and a late batting cameo from Jonny Bairstow.

In fact, the displays of that particular trio of youngsters apart, perhaps the biggest crumb of comfort for the Yorkshire party on the long trip home last night was that Somerset had earlier in the day fought back admirably against Worcestershire to end the second day of their Championship fixture at New Road on 198 without loss in reply to the hosts’ 488 all out.

From such a position, it is difficult to envisage second-bottom Worcestershire being able to force the win that would be enough to dump Gale’s men back into the relegation zone. To stay out of the bottom two come the season’s end will, of course, mean Yorkshire having to do themselves a couple of favours. To do so, however, they must cut out the sloppy play that characterised much of last night’s efforts at Hove.

Wayward bowling, in particular, proved damaging at both the start and end of the Sharks’ innings after the hosts had won the toss and opted to bat.

Chris Nash was the first to take advantage by punishing anything wide of off stump from Ajmal Shahzad, who as a result marked his 26th birthday by going for 30 from his opening three overs.

This early flurry of shots from Nash, who was destined to receive able support from both Lou Vincent and Murray Goodwin, meant the hosts comfortably overcame the early loss of Ed Joyce after the left-hander had turned a legside delivery from Ryan Sidebottom into the hands of Shahzad at short fine leg.

Nash eventually went for 79 in the 30th over, Rich Pyrah claiming his wicket with a delivery that darted back, to briefly give Yorkshire welcome hope of restricting their dominant hosts to a chaseable target.

Instead, an all-out assault from Ben Brown, who admittedly had been fortunate to escape a strong lbw appeal from Wainwright on just two, and Naved Arif took the game away from Carnegie.

The pair put on a scintillating 59 from the final 28 deliveries, a tally that included 23 off one forgettable over by Sidebottom as Brown cut loose to finish unbeaten on a half century.

Chasing 247 for victory, Yorkshire suffered the worst possible start when captain Andrew Gale was given out lbw just four balls into the reply despite Arif’s rising delivery appearing to be heading over the stumps.

Joe Sayers and Adam Lyth did then lead something of a fightback to put on 65 in a little under 11 overs. Two lusty hits for six by Lyth were the clear highlight of the partnership only for the left- hander to perish attempting a third off Naved that Vincent collected gratefully on the boundary.

Three overs later, Sayers was also on his way after being deceived by Monty Panesar as Brown whipped off the bails before Gary Ballance fell victim to a stunning one-handed catch by Vincent off Nash.

Bairstow did, at least, try to take the game to Sussex after losing both Jacques Rudolph and Shahzad in quick succession but even his late knock of 43 could not add too much polish to what was a hugely disappointing night.