THERE will be free admission at Stockton today to see Durham attempt to make it three wins out of three in the County Championship.

They were badly hampered by showers yesterday, and only 30 overs were played with Somerset progressing to 219 for eight in their second innings, leading by 173.

Among those who got in free yesterday were England coaches Duncan Fletcher and Troy Cooley, who are doing the rounds of the counties and took the opportunity to check on Steve Harmison and Marcus Trescothick.

It was a pity Fletcher wasn't there on Saturday to see Liam Plunkett make a highly impressive 74 not out, putting on 124 for Durham's ninth wicket with fellow Teessider Mark Davies.

Plunkett's England potential with the ball is already known and he has benefited from working with Cooley, but batting as well as this can only add to his burgeoning reputation.

Somerset resumed on 88 for three yesterday and Harmison grabbed his third wicket of the innings in the day's third over when Mike Burns pushed forward and was lbw for 34.

That brought together the first innings danger men, James Hildreth and Ian Blackwell, and they put on 26 in five overs before Hildreth was lbw aiming to play Plunkett wide of mid-on.

The next three batsmen contributed 11 between them while the left-handed Blackwell again made batting look ridiculously easy, reaching 50 off 46 balls with ten fours.

He had time to pull short balls from Harmison, eased anything on his pads into leg-side spaces and also drove effortlessly down the ground.

But until the rain arrived Durham remained in control. Davies had Aaron Laraman lbw then bowled Rob Turner off his gloves as he decided too late to shoulder arms.

Paul Collingwood had Richard Johnson caught behind and at 173 for eight Somerset were only 127 ahead and in danger of a three-day defeat.

They added 12 runs before the first shower arrived at 12.30. It was decided to take lunch 15 minutes early at 1pm and throughout the interval the sun shone brightly, but three overs after the resumption it rained again.

The next passage of play lasted five overs, but with their rhythm badly disrupted these were costly little episodes for Durham as Andrew Caddick took advantage of bowling which was too short to contribute 27 to the unbroken stand of 46.

Blackwell remained unbeaten on 66 and if he gets to bat for an hour this morning Durham could be in dangerous waters because they will not want to chase many more than 200.

Given better weather, it could be a fascinating day's play and the free admission is a very generous offer.

With 2,500 people paying at the gate over the three days so far, Stockton are already in pocket, with yesterday's lengthy stoppages boosting refreshment and bar takings.

Some of their army of volunteers might not be too pleased about taking another day out of their holiday entitlement, but they have already justified the decision to bring a game to the Grangefield Road ground.

The initial asking price to stage the match was £15,000, but with support from Stockton Borough Council and sponsorship from Pertemps, the jobfinders, the club have been able to show a profit.

The locals delighted in Saturday's career-best efforts by Plunkett and Davies, whose stand was only three short of Durham's ninth wicket record.

After resuming on 141 for seven on Saturday, Durham made 298, a lead of 46, and Somerset reached 71 for three before a break of over two hours for rain. They re-emerged at 6.15 with 6.3 overs to play and added 17 runs.

After his burst of five for eight in 17 balls on Friday evening, Caddick looked likely to wrap up the Durham innings quickly.

He was not impressed in the day's third over when Graeme Bridge backed away and flapped at a ball which flew off the edge over the slips for four.

In his next over Caddick banged one in just short of a length and it lifted viciously to brush Bridge's gloves on the way to wicketkeeper Turner.

The former England bowler continued to pose problems, but Plunkett played him skilfully and after his unbroken spell of 17 overs on Friday, Caddick rested after six overs.

Both batsmen began to look very comfortable against Simon Francis and Aaron Laraman. A back-foot four through the covers off Laraman took Davies past his previous best of 33, and when Caddick came back for another burst one over cost 11 runs as both players turned him to the fine leg boundary.

Somerset finally turned to Sanath Jarasuriya's left-arm spin and he wrapped up the innings with two for two in three overs. He turned one to bowl Davies for 62 then had Harmison lbw.

Harmison claimed both Somerset openers to edged catches, with Marcus Trescothick's poor run continuing when he was well taken low at second slip by Gareth Breese for 20.

Jayasuriya briefly threatened, pulling Plunkett behind square for six then off-driving Collingwood's first ball for four. But two balls later he pushed forward and edged to Mike Hussey at second slip just as the rain arrived.

Read more about Durham here.