A Hampshire field without a single slip when Shane Warne is captain is a rare sight.

But that was the case at Headingley yesterday afternoon as Hampshire slid closer to their first defeat under Warne for nearly a year.

You have to go back to before last year's Ashes series for Hampshire's last defeat under Warne, a two-wicket loss against Middlesex at Southgate last July.

It is also 11 months since Yorkshire last recorded a championship victory, but they will expect to complete their first win in 13 today, largely due to Anthony McGrath's 126 (211 balls, seven fours, one six).

Hampshire, 246-9 overnight, were bowled out for 248 off the last ball of the first over of the day, a first innings deficit of 102, when Dominic Thornely (76 from 170 balls, four fours, one six) gloved an attempted hook.

Thornely could face disciplinary action for a show of dissent after his dismissal, and Hampshire's day did not get any better as Yorkshire ensured that the county will need their fifth highest-ever fourth innings total if they are to record a third championship victory in four.

Yorkshire made 301-8 before declaring, setting Warne's men 404 for victory.

Only twice before have Hampshire successfully chased more than that to win a game.

In 1990 they beat Gloucestershire by two wickets with a fourth innings total of 446-8 at Northlands Road, and in 1983 Essex were vanquished by four wickets, also at Southampton, when Hampshire totalled 410-6.

A similar performance today will need a first second innings hundred of the season from one of Hampshire's batsman, as well as several other notable contributions.

It is not impossible, for the pitch is still good and Michael Carberry and Jimmy Adams made a solid start in reaching 46-0 from the last 17 overs of the day.

The likelihood is that there will be a positive result today.

Hampshire need 358 more runs to win, and it would go against the grain of Warne's thinking if they held on for a draw against a side that is unlikely to be challenging for the championship title later in the season.

If Yorkshire had Michael Vaughan available all season it would be different, but the England captain's appearances in the championship are so rare that the prospect of watching him bat against Warne was one of the main reasons for a good-sized Headingley crowd.

The England captain brought back memories of his early days at Yorkshire by putting on 128 in 35 overs for the second wicket with his county contemporary McGrath, after James Bruce found the shoulder of Matthew Wood's bat with the third ball of the Yorkshire innings.

Vaughan (56 from 112 balls, four fours) was satisfied with his progress after failing to lay a bat on a Dimitri Mascarenhas off-cutter.

"I felt pretty good on a tricky-ish wicket and am happy with the way things are going," was his verdict.

Mascarenhas nipped one through the gate and against Vaughan's off stump from the Kirkstall Lane End and Michael Lumb (5) was out clipping him to mid-wicket, but McGrath continued untroubled.

Yorkshire's form batsman will not have eaten much at tea, when he was unbeaten on 99, but he soon reached his second hundred of what is becoming an outstanding season, guiding Bruce to the third-man boundary in the first over of the evening session.

Bruce was driven over the long-off boundary by McGrath, his only six, but the 30-year-old, who now has 632 championship runs at 79 this season, was eventually caught at square leg off Warne.

McGrath had seen Darren Lehmann, Craig White and Gerard Brophy all depart before then.

Lehmann (18) had made just one when he narrowly avoided a second run-out of the match, Pothas missing the stumps from a gully position.

But he soon edged Warne to first slip and, after putting on 80 in 24 overs with McGrath, Craig White lost his leg stump to Thornely after stepping across to the off-side in an attempt to work the Aussie through mid-wicket.

White's 35 from 74 balls included a slog-swept six against Warne.

Brophy (13), having been dropped by Logan at square leg when on five, edged Hampshire's captain to Pothas before McGrath and then Richard Dawson departed in quick succession.

Tim Bresnan, having scored 91 and taken 4-36 in the first innings, hastened the declaration by driving Warne for four, before clipping the next ball from Hampshire's captain for a six over mid-wicket.