A bizarre passage of play in the Roses match at Headingley yesterday saw Matthew Hoggard take three Lancashire wickets in 14 deliveries with three different balls at a cost of just two runs!

Hoggard first of all dismissed Mal Loye with the original ball before it was changed after a long consultation between umpires David Constant and John Holder.

The replacement was used for only four balls during which time Hoggard nipped one back to have Brad Hodge lbw, the Australian looking furious at his dismissal.

The next ball brought on by Ernest Horbury - the man in charge of the box of balls - brought yet another wicket as Hoggard in his next over uprooted the off-stump of Mark Chilton for 112, the Lancashire captain appearing angry at the 29 minutes of interruptions which had no doubt led to a lapse in concentration.

Even this chain of remarkable events could not prevent Lancashire taking a firm grip of the game and they closed the third day on 291 for five with an overall lead of 335, leaving Yorkshire with a lot of hard work to do today if they are to salvage something from the match.

Just as Leeds-born Iain Sutcliffe had dominated play on the first day with his 153, it was another Yorkshire exile in Sheffield-born Chilton who ruffled the feathers of his native county yesterday.

Lancashire were on top from as early as the second over of the morning when Tim Bresnan was dismissed to leave Yorkshire on 300 for eight.

At that stage they were 79 runs adrift on the first innings and for a while Craig White and Hoggard looked capable of a big stand together until White was conned into hooking James Anderson into the hands of Sutcliffe who was waiting at deep backward square leg for just such a shot.

Hoggard's dismissal gave Anderson each of the last three wickets and a Lancashire lead of 44 was during the course of the day turned into something very much more formidable.

Chilton and Sutcliffe coolly gave Lancashire the solid start they were looking for and in addition to Sutcliffe's eighth boundary taking him to his 50 it also brought up the century stand but in the same over Sutcliffe fell lbw to Richard Dawson who in a long spell of bowling claimed his first wicket of the match.

With Yorkshire's attack unable to make any impression, Chilton featured in another century stand, this time with Mal Loye, as Lancashire assumed command. Soon after tea Chilton completed his unruffled century off 194 balls with 12 fours and a six.

Then followed the ball-changing episodes which left Lancashire on 226 for four after Chilton's departure and they lost their fifth wicket at 262 when Glen Chapple lofted Deon Kruis to Bresnan at mid-off.

Lancashire will want to declare as soon as they can today but lurking at the back of their minds will be the fact that Yorkshire were asked to make 404 for victory against Leicestershire at Grace Road earlier in the season - and got there with six wickets to spare.

Hoggard, meanwhile, felt a recurrence of the ankle pain he experienced in the second Test against Bangladesh at Roverside and he will seek further medical advice on Monday.