STEVE Patterson says Yorkshire have little room for manoeuvre if they are to qualify for the knockout stages of the Royal London One-Day Cup after today’s washout against Nottinghamshire at Emerald Headingley.

Rain throughout the day frustrated both sides and left them with a point apiece, with the match being called off at 3.30pm.

It means Yorkshire have reached the halfway stage of their North Group campaign with three points, including a win and two defeats - the latter two being the last two fixtures against Warwickshire and Worcestershire.

The top three teams in each group qualifies for the knockouts.

The top team goes straight through to a home semi-final, while second in the North plays third in the South at home in an effective quarter-final and vice versa.

The Vikings now have three games away and one more at home, starting with Leicestershire Foxes at the Fischer County Ground, Grace Road on Sunday (11am).

Stand-in captain Patterson: “After the last couple of games, we wanted to get back out there and try to turn things around and get back on track with some positive results.

“With only three qualifying from each group, it’s going to be harder than it has been in previous years.

“To be only halfway through the competition with only one win is going to make it hard.

“You’d assume we probably need to win all four from here, certainly three of them, to have a chance.

“It makes every game like a must win or a knockout game I suppose.

“At the end of the day, we know we’ve been below par.

“If we play the cricket we’re capable of, like we did at Durham, we will win games of cricket. It’s just unfortunate we haven't put both sides of the game together.”

Meanwhile, Yorkshire have been deducted one point in the Second XI Trophy with a further suspended penalty of half the available match points in any competition following a Cricket Discipline Commission hearing on Thursday.

The club pleaded guilty to a charge that in a Second XI Trophy match between Yorkshire and Durham earlier this month one of their players, Tom Loten, used a bat which did not meet the requirements of law five of The Laws of Cricket 2017 Code relating to bat sizes.

The decision was made after the disciplinary panel heard the player’s bat had failed an in-game bat check by the umpires on the day of the match.

The suspended penalty will be applied if any Yorkshire player is in breach of this law in any competition within 12 months from the date of the hearing in addition to any sanction imposed for the proven subsequent offence.

Loten was not charged individually in this case as he is not a registered cricketer, though eligible to play second XI cricket.

In reaching their decision the panel, which was chaired by Tim O’Gorman with Mark Milliken Smith QC and Mike Smith, noted that breaches of this law are very serious offences and this had been made clear to all First-Class Counties since the instigation of the Law.

However, they took into account Yorkshire’s guilty pleas and that the county had made efforts to ensure their players complied with the new law but on this occasion had not checked this player’s bat prior to this match, against a background of a late call-up in light of an injury to another player.

The panel wishes to re-iterate the importance of Counties ensuring that all players’ bats are compliant at all times, with particular care being needed for those called up late to a match.

No financial penalty was imposed as the Panel recognised the efforts that Yorkshire had made, but they noted that in future cases a financial penalty in addition to points deduction may be appropriate where circumstances dictate.

No order for costs was made.