Yorkshire could probably have had their match against Hampshire almost sewn up now but for Australian left-hander Simon Katich, whose batting was on a different plain to that of anyone else at Scarborough yesterday.

Katich, who played in one Championship game for Yorkshire last season during a brief spell as a replacement for Darren Lehmann, hit a chanceless unbeaten 143 and almost single-handedly saved Hampshire from the possibility of following on.

Needing 235 for safety, Hampshire had eight down when they hit their target, 118 of the runs coming from Katich while clusters of wickets fell at the other end.

Katich continued to rally the tail and when the last wicket fell at 289, Yorkshire's first innings lead had been whittled down to 95.

Matthew Wood and Stephen Fleming then put on 23 in the day's final ten overs to leave Yorkshire 118 runs in front.

Katich has shown a rare liking at Hampshire for batting against his former counties. At the beginning of June he plundered 135 against Durham.

Yorkshire began the second day on 326 for five and batted with little purpose to be sent back for 384, so missing out on a fifth and final batting point. Simon Guy was caught behind before a run had been added and Yuvraj Singh found life at the crease just as taxing as the previous evening, the Indian finally lashing out at Shaun Udal's off-spin and giving a catch to deep extra cover.

The best strokes came from Andy Gray, but Udal snared him lbw for 30 three balls after accounting for Yuvraj. Ryan Sidebottom and Steve Kirby both got themselves out for ducks as Yorkshire's tail mysteriously preferred defensive strokes rather than attempting anything more positive.

Sensationally, the sequence of ducks was extended to five as Hampshire suddenly found themselves on seven for three with openers Derek Kenway and James Adams and skipper John Crawley all failing to score.

Kirby bowled Kenway in his first over, the ball dropping off his thigh and rolling gently on to the leg stump and in his next he located the inside edge of Crawley's bat for Guy to hold the catch. Sandwiched in between, Silverwood had Adams scooped up at third slip by Gray.

Katich was on nine and Hampshire 29 for three at lunch but Katich began the afternoon by smacking Silverwood for three boundaries in an over and he continued to amass runs rapidly, his 50 coming off 56 balls.

Both Kirby and Silverwood became plagued by no-balls - the pair bowling 21 between them at a cost of 43 runs.

But just as Silverwood was flagging in his opening spell he had a burst of renewed energy, trapping John Francis lbw and plucking out James Hamblin's leg stump with consecutive deliveries before seeing Katich squirt the hat-trick ball past the slips for four. Dimitri Mascarenhas fell to Sidebottom to make Hampshire 107 for six but the second half of the batting order shored things up at one end while Katich blazed away at the other in stands of 52 with Udal, 73 with Iain Brunnschweiler and 52 with Tremlett. When last man James Bruce bought Gray his only wicket, Katich walked in with 20 fours and a six alongside his name after facing 194 balls, his century being the 100th by a visiting batsman in first class matches at North Marine Road.