YORKSHIRE will be hoping the threat of rain does not scupper their chances of beating relegation rivals Hampshire at the Rose Bowl over the next two days.

The White Rose side hold the clear advantage at the halfway stage of their LV= County Championship tussle having posted 532 in their first innings before tea yesterday.

And, even though Michael Carberry and Neil McKenzie made batting look pretty simple on a flat pitch before close last night, the hosts still have a mountain to climb after losing two wickets to Ryan Sidebottom and David Wainwright.

They closed on 116-2 from 29 overs, still 416 runs in arrears.

But, if you believe the weather forecasters, the elements are set to severely disrupt today’s third day, giving Hampshire hope of getting out of jail.

Day two was a commanding one for Yorkshire, yet tinged with a bit of frustration from their supporters’ point of view.

Anthony McGrath scored an impressively determined century, his first of the season, to help the visitors reach 411-4 from 139 overs at lunch.

And with him still at the crease, it was expected that the accelerator would be firmly pressed in their bid to bring Dominic Cork’s side to their knees.

But McGrath fell early in the afternoon for 115 off 296 balls, and Yorkshire’s middle to lower order failed to up the ante.

They only scored 121 runs from 32.2 overs in the session at a rate of 3.75 per over as leg-spinner Imran Tahir took four of six wickets to fall between lunch and tea.

“We just found it hard to force the pace,” said McGrath, who was understandably delighted with his personal contribution. “If you’re disciplined, putting the ball in the right areas, it can be very slow.

“We had 550 in mind to get them looking at 400 for the follow-on, and it was a good effort by everyone.”

Even though you got the feeling that Yorkshire could have been bowling a good half hour before tea, their resilience in such a crucial fixture should still be applauded.

After all, seven sessions – weather permitting – should be enough time to take 20 wickets. “That was something like we can bat,” continued McGrath, who shared 157 for the fourth wicket with Gary Ballance. “We talked pre-match about the top five or six really contributing.

“It was all about partnerships, and we’ve not been good at that this year. Hopefully we can continue like this for the rest of the season.”

Ballance, who flicked a six over backward square-leg off Chris Wood’s left-arm seam early in the day, looked confident on his way to a county best 128-ball 76.

Gerard Brophy also added 53 during the majority of the afternoon, but fell to Tahir, who also got Adil Rashid, Ajmal Shahzad and Wainwright to help wrap up the innings.

Sidebottom had Liam Dawson caught behind after tea and Wainwright got Jimmy Adams the same way.

Carberry and McKenzie then counter-attacked well as McGrath added: “We didn’t bowl as tightly as we wanted to.”