YORKSHIRE director of cricket Martyn Moxon says his side will set Hampshire an aggressive total today, if they can, after an impressive all round display on day three put them in control of their LV=County Championship fixture at the Rose Bowl.

His comments came after an excellent performance with both bat and ball from the Tykes saw them close with a commanding second-innings lead of 216.

“We do not know exactly what we will set them yet,” admitted Moxon, who saw his side set Somerset a total in the club’s last fixture which they easily achieved.

“Hopefully if we bat well then we can dictate the rest of this game but we will be mindful of last week’s defeat.”

The fact they are in such a good position owes much to the good gamesmanship of Hampshire’s skipper Nic Pothas, who declared in the afternoon session to help this intriguing match have a better chance of finishing with a positive result.

Unfortunately for him, his plan backfired as Yorkshire’s top order once more underlined their credentials as one of the best batting units in the county circuit to put them in control.

Starting with a first-innings advantage of 64, after Pothas’s surprise declaration, it was again the opener Adam Lyth who led from the front to continue his almost unbelievable start to 2010.

By the close he and Anthony McGrath (60) had put on 116 for the second wicket, after losing Joe Sayers early on for 13, and, with Lyth unbeaten on 64, the 22-year-old has now passed 800 runs for this Championship season.

That means he now has a real chance of exceeding 1,000 runs before the end of May, which is an achievement of huge significance in the cricketing world, but before he and McGrath’s heroics with the bat, it was the Tykes bowlers, led by Adil Rashid, who shone though on another sunny Southampton day.

The leg spinner, with season-best figures of four for 62, was back to somewhere near to his best to help Yorkshire take six wickets in the first 40 overs of play.

He was helped by Tino Best, who took two wickets and was also warned about his conduct after aiming a beamer at David Balcombe’s head.

But it was Rashid who really led from the front with a sustained spell of intelligent and accurate spin bowling.

His efforts helped reduce Hampshire from an overnight score of 162-3 to 351-9, before Pothas shocked everyone at the Rose Bowl by declaring.

Then came Lyth and McGrath to really put Yorkshire in control.

Meanwhile, the club have confirmed that they are exploring the possibility of signing a replacement for Clint McKay for the upcoming Twenty20 competition.

The Australian, only signed last week, will miss up to seven of the 16 group games after being called into his national squad for five one-day Internationals against England.

Moxon says they are “exploring lots of possibilities and weighing up the cost of potentially bringing in another player.”