SUDDENLY, you can never write Hampshire off these days.

When Yorkshire reached 300 for the loss of just two wickets it was looking like one of those days for John Crawley's men.

But Chris Tremlett and Dimitri Mascarenhas bowled Hampshire back into the match after tea at Scarborough, taking three wickets in eight deliveries with the new ball.

Tremlett took the first, the important scalp of Yorkshire skipper Matthew Wood, a revelation since taking on the captaincy in the absence of England's Anthony McGrath.

His 155 here yesterday was the lowest of the three hundreds he has scored this summer and it came to an end when he drove Tremlett on the up to cover, where Crawley held on to a brilliant, two-handed diving catch.

In the next over, the sixth with the new ball, Mascarenhas ensured that Hampshire had the better of the evening session, which began with Yorkshire 237-2.

Mascarenhas's fast-medium pace accounted for left-hander Michael Lumb and the in-form Craig White in successive balls before Simon Guy drove the hat-trick ball, a no ball, to the extra cover boundary.

Both were trapped lbw, Lumb by a hint of inswing and White as he played back without offering a shot.

Suddenly the balance was a little more even but until Tremlett had removed centurion Wood, only two wickets had been taken in 94 overs.

Wood's intentions were clear once he had won the toss but New Zealand skipper Stephen Fleming was out of touch in his fourth championship match for Yorkshire.

Fleming took 40 balls to get off the mark against an attack without the fit-again Alan Mullally, who was left out in favour of James Bruce.

It was in James Hamblin's first over that the left-hander scored his first runs after mistiming an attempted pull shot.

He departed after mistiming a slower ball, the 69th ball of his innings and the first of Bruce's fifth over, to Tremlett at mid-off, having contributed 16 to the 55-run opening partnership.

Wood continued in the same vein, adding 94 with left hander Vic Craven, whose wicket was the first to fall after lunch.

Mascarenhas bowled with impressive economy on a day that began in comical and painful fashion for the medium pacer.

He failed to spot Shaun Udal lob the ball to him from mid-off during his fourth over and collapsed on the turf after being struck in the nether regions.

After a few deep breaths, Mascarenhas was fit to carry on and he proved a potent threat.

Craven had edged Bruce just short of second slip when he was still on nought but he became the first of Mascarenhas's three wickets, which were all given lbw by Barry Leadbeater.

Craven contributed 47 to the 94-run stand but after he had departed Hampshire were frustrated by the highest partnership of the day.

Wood added 151 in 44 overs with Lumb for the third wicket before he became the first victim of that post-tea triple whammy, having faced 299 balls in more than five and a half hours at the crease.

He offered only one chance. Katich dropped a sharp chance at backward short leg off Udal when the Huddersfield-born star was on 74. But otherwise the Yorkshire skipper was faultless.