JON Lewis's century, chiselled out with iron resolve, proved in vain for Durham yesterday as the nightmare continued for new bowling spearhead Shaun Tait.

After his 21 no-balls on debut against Somerset, the Australian over-stepped with his fourth ball at Colchester and when two more no-balls followed in his second over, any hope of him re-discovering some confidence had vanished.

He bowled four overs for 37 runs to launch Essex on what could become a rapid replica of last week's two-day game against Somerset.

Durham improved on the 231 they made in that match by reaching 268, but Essex replied with 274 for four in only 52 overs and will look to emulate Somerset by racing on to maximum batting points today before pressing for an innings win.

After Richard Johnson's 63-ball hundred at Riverside on Monday, the flaying of the Durham attack was continued by Will Jefferson and Andy Flower. Only Liam Plunkett commanded any respect.

While the onus on Lewis to anchor the faltering Durham innings saw him take 256 balls to reach his century, the 6ft 11in Will Jefferson flew to the target in 112 balls and Flower scorched to 50 in 34 balls.

Following Simon Francis' five-wicket haul for Somerset, Durham University graduates are making a habit of making Durham suffer and Jefferson played superbly.

He was the beneficiary of Tait's early struggles, although one of the seven fours the paceman conceded in that opening four-over spell flew over second slip with Jefferson on 22.

Otherwise the lanky right-hander displayed a full range of perfectly-timed shots and one effortless flick off Neil Killeen flew to the left of mid-on at head height and almost carried for six.

Jefferson, who made 222 against Hampshire at the Rose Bowl in Essex's last match, was finally lbw to Gareth Breese for 134.

Paul Grayson contributed 26 to the opening stand of 104 before driving Graeme Bridge to cover, but then Flower got after the left-arm spinner, lofting him for two straight sixes.

With Killeen again failing to justify his inclusion in the championship team, this was not the sort of situation for Gavin Hamilton to continue his search for form and Lewis scarcely knew where to turn.

It was impossible not to feel sorry for the embattled captain, whose 127 was his highest score for three years.

After play began at noon everything went well until lunch, with Lewis and Bridge adding 59 to take the score at the interval to 229 for six.

Unlike Somerset at Riverside last Saturday, Essex were keen to get cracking and took the field with sawdust sprinkled liberally on the wet patches near the square. They were prepared to ignore the boggy bits in the outfield, although these cost Lewis two fours as he twice drove Darren Gough through the covers for three.

Lewis had taken 96 balls to get from 50 to 70 on the first day, and after Thursday's washout he resumed quite fluently.

But he got stuck in the low 90s against leg spinner Danish Kaneria, whose clever variations saw Lewis play and miss three times before he ventured down the pitch and lofted the Pakistani over mid-wicket for six to reach 99.

Three overs later he drove off-spinner James Middlebrook past the diving Kaneria at mid-on for his 14th four to complete the 16th first-class century of his career, 12 of them for Durham.

Lewis was on 105 at lunch and clearly needed to step up a gear. He lost Bridge for 26 in the second over after the break, caught off bat and pad off Kaneria, but then drove Middlebrook for his second six and added two more fours.

He never looked likely to dominate Kaneria, however, and his 281-ball innings ended when he went down the pitch and was easily stumped by James Foster.

Middlebrook took the last two wickets, having Plunkett lbw on the back foot and persuading Tait to chip to mid-wicket.

Jefferson began Tait's bowling misery by clipping him square off his toes for four and cutting him for another as the opening over, with the no-ball, cost 12 runs.

There were no runs off the bat in Tait's second over but then Jefferson hit three fours in his third and continued to hammer the off-side boundary boards off front and back foot. He had 21 fours in his 155-ball innings.

Flower fell for 72 when a top-edged cut to Plunkett at third man handed Hamilton a wicket, ending a second-wicket stand of 143 in 21 overs.

Aftab Habib and skipper Ronnie Irani couldn't quite keep up the tempo in the final half hour, and Habib edged Bridge to slip two overs from the close.

But Essex will still hope to reach 400 before lunch today.