Yorkshire 121 and 189 for 6 (Lyth 57*, Bairstow 52, Wheal 4-41) lead Hampshire 249 (Brown 49*, Hill 3-36) by 61 runs

Jonny Bairstow led from the front as Yorkshire produced an admirable fightback on day two of their Championship opener, but it was his dismissal by Hampshire's winter recruit, the rapid 22-year-old Sonny Baker, late in the day that tilted the contest back towards the home side.

Baker was clocked at 92mph/148kph when playing for Hampshire in the Global Super League late last year, and impressed enough on the England Lions tour of Australia to be offered an ECB development contract. He had already claimed Bairstow as a maiden Championship wicket with his second delivery on Friday, and saw Yorkshire's captain put down twice in the space of as many balls in the second innings, before returning for a second spell during the evening session to pluck out his middle stump and end a 105-run stand with Adam Lyth.

Baker's tail was up and he quickly dispatched the next man in, George Hill, who inside-edged his second ball for four before defending his third down into the stumps. With Brad Wheal claiming his fourth wicket of the innings before the close, Will Luxton caught down the leg side, Hampshire had regained the initiative after being made to toil in the afternoon sunshine.

They made extra work for themselves, with Bairstow dropped three times early in his innings - chances of varying difficulty but all catchable. Yet from such scratchy beginnings, Bairstow brought himself to bear on proceedings through sheer force of personality, becoming the first batter in a low-scoring match to reach a half-century. His partnership with Lyth was worth almost as much as Yorkshire's entire first innings, and gave them hope of turning the tables on Hampshire after conceding a 128-run deficit.

Lyth also went past 50, his nuggety innings heading towards 200 balls without so much as a chance offered. After a dogged start he grew more expansive, comfortably negotiating a spell of short stuff from Baker, and his efforts at least helped give Yorkshire the prospect of something to bowl at in the fourth innings - as well as laying a marker after a worryingly flimsy display from his top-order colleagues.

It did not look as though Hampshire would be detained for so long when Yorkshire were 4 for 2 after nine balls of their second dig, Fin Bean chipping Wheal tamely to mid-on and James Wharton trapped lbw for a golden duck. The scoreboard read 53 for 3 when Dawid Malan departed - Wheal finding his outside edge having switched ends - and the lead was still 75. A swift conclusion to the game was on the cards, and that may have transpired had Hampshire taken one of their opportunities against Bairstow.

The first, when Bairstow had scored 6, saw Liam Dawson fail to cling on to a low caught-and-bowled chance going to his right. Baker was then brought into the attack, and his extra pace soon had the beans going as Bairstow picked out deep square leg with a flat pull - only for Nick Gubbins, stationed on the boundary, to drop the ball over the rope, taking a glancing blow to the head in the process.

With Gubbins required to undergo a concussion check, he was replaced on the field by sub fielder Joe Weatherley. Baker duly banged in the next one and Bairstow took him on again, the resultant top-edge looping into the leg side, where Weatherley had to make up a lot of ground. Although he managed to get hands under the ball, it seemed to squirm from his grasp as he pitched forward into the turf. As Hampshire celebrated, Bairstow stood his ground; after conferring, the umpires agreed that he should continue.

While the drama swirled around Bairstow, Lyth was almost literally a bystander. At tea, he had dug in for 13 from 103 balls, having barely played an attacking stroke. It was not until his 124th that he found the boundary with a flick off the pads; two balls later he had another, punching a cut through backward point.

Hampshire resumed in the ascendency after a solid performance on day one, and stretched their advantage during a morning session that realized 85 runs for the loss of their last five wickets. Ben Brown, promoted to the captaincy in the wake of James Vince's enforced red-ball hiatus, biffed an unbeaten 49 that included twice launching Ben Coad into the crowd at deep midwicket - although Yorkshire were aggrieved that he was not given out lbw on 2 when aiming an unsuccessful reverse-sweep at Dom Bess.