England selector and Academy coach Rodney Marsh was at Headingley on a tour of duty yesterday but the Australian saw nothing from Yorkshire that would fire his imagination as Derbyshire tightened their stranglehold on the Championship match.

Derbyshire, on their 100th visit to the Broad Acres and seeking only their ninth win, set Yorkshire a target of 407 which they will get nowhere near if they bat as feebly as in the first innings.

Their only consolation was that Matthew Wood and Michael Vaughan negotiated nine overs to the close while making 12.

The only worry for Derbyshire captain Dominic Cork was whether he made the right decision not to enforce the follow on in view of the uncertain weather forecast. Faced with a first innings deficit of 192 after being bowled out for 230, Yorkshire may well have collapsed again if they had been sent straight back in.

Derbyshire seemed quite content to amble on to 214 for four before rain soon after tea caused a 20-over hold-up and the players had no sooner left the field then Cork announced the declaration.

Yorkshire began the third day on 203 for four in reply to Derbyshire's substantial first innings score of 422 but hopes of getting back on terms quickly vanished as careless strokes resulted in the last six wickets crashing in 48 minutes for the addition of 27 runs.

The cave-in started in the first over with Scott Richardson's slash at Graeme Welch ending up in Christopher Bassano's hands at gully and Richard Dawson and Chris Silverwood both paid the penalty for poking their bats at Kevin Dean.

Ryan Sidebottom, who the previous day had looked a class above the other Yorkshire bowlers by claiming a career-best seven for 97, fell lbw to a yorker from Welch who also ended Richard Blakey's brave resistance after he had survived 33 overs for 29. Dean's fourth wicket, that of Steve Kirby caught in the slips without scoring, brought the innings to a sad conclusion.

There had been plenty of movement for Welch and Dean, who each took four wickets, but Yorkshire's bowlers looked far less potent and Michael Di Venuto and Andrew Gait cruised past their first innings opening stand of 75. They had reached 109 when Di Venuto looped a catch to Anthony McGrath at cover off Dawson for 77 at a run a ball with eight fours.

Dawson had a long work-out with 25.2 overs during which he also dismissed Gait and there were two wickets for Sidebottom.

Derbyshire have so far been in complete control, their supremacy stemming from a marathon knock from former Durham University student, Luke Sutton, whose first innings 127 spanned six hours and 18 minutes during which time he faced 281 balls and struck 12 fours.