ENGLAND Test captain Joe Root fell for eight as Yorkshire endured a nightmare day at the office against Hampshire at the Ageas Bowl.

At the halfway stage of this Specsavers County Championship match, it is Hampshire who are eyeing the win having reduced Yorkshire to 46-5 and 94-6 in reply to 455.

Yorkshire closed on 128-6 from 43 overs, needing to reach 306 to avoid the follow-on. Skipper Gary Ballance top-scored with 63 not out.

Hampshire advanced from 281-4 overnight before being bowled out on the stroke of tea, despite slipping to 302-7.

Gareth Berg hit 99 not out before striking three times with the new ball as Yorkshire fell to 46-5 inside 20 overs, with Ashes rivals Root, Peter Handscomb and Jonny Bairstow falling cheaply. Berg finished with figures of 4-32 from 13 overs.

"I thought we started well but we let them off the hook," said Yorkshire coach Andrew Gale.

"Fair play to Berg, he batted well. Then, this afternoon, a couple of decisions didn't go our way, but generally we were poor.

"It's definitely not a 128-6 pitch. The lads need to knuckle down, get stuck in and get some partnerships.

"Hampshire bowled well, and they're allowed to, but we've got to stand up and be better than that.

"It's a good pitch. The new ball's done a little bit and their two new-ball bowlers bowled well. We played and missed quite a bit.

"But we've got to be better than that. I said to the lads 'we expect a better performance and response tomorrow'."

The day had started well for the visitors, who picked up three wickets in 16 balls as Hampshire slipped from 300-4 to 302-7 between the 96th and 99th overs.

Ben Coad claimed his fourth wicket of the innings when he had James Vince caught behind off the inside edge for 147, before David Willey had Lewis McManus caught behind down leg and Liam Dawson lbw in successive overs.

Unfortunately for Yorkshire, who missed out on a third bowling bonus point, things were about to get a lot worse.

Berg marshalled the tail and shared stands of 44, 41 and 68 for the eighth, nine and the tenth wickets with Kyle Abbott, Reece Topley and Brad Wheal.

The all-rounder hit two sixes over long-on off Adil Rashid, who only bowled 20 overs in the innings for 1-95. He had Topley lbw.

But Berg, who offered a sharp slip catch to Adam Lyth on 41, was left stranded one short of his third career century when Lyth held on to help Root get rid of Wheal on the stroke of tea.

His disappointment will not have lasted too long, however, as he continued his day of success with the new ball.

The seamer trapped Alex Lees lbw for a duck in the second over, before forcing Lyth to chop on for eight in the next.

Root was next to go when he nibbled at a back of a length delivery and edged behind in the 12th over.

Then it was Australian Handscomb who departed for one to leave Yorkshire reeling, with South African seamer Abbott getting him lbw three balls later.

Bairstow and unbeaten Ballance shared 27 to briefly steady the White Rose county – but the former batsman was wicket number five when he was lbw to Wheal for seven in the 20th over.

Ballance found help in the form of Tim Bresnan as they doubled Yorkshire's score with a stand of 46 but Bresnan was next to go. He was caught behind for 21 in the 32nd over as Yorkshire lost their sixth wicket before reaching 100.

Ballance, who reached 50 off 89 balls, will have Rashid for company on 16 to start day three.

"At 350-8 we're thinking 'can we keep them below 380?' It was good," said Gale.

"We toiled hard yesterday and bowled well, apart from a little period after tea. I thought we got rewarded for that this morning.

"We just didn't back it up. With the bat, we were generally poor. Simple as that."

The decisions that went against Yorkshire, which Gale talked about, were Lees, Handscomb and Bresnan.

Lees' lbw looked high and Handscomb's outside the line, while Bresnan looked as if he did not hit it.