AFTER kicking his heels in Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and the West Indies during the winter, Anthony McGrath proved he can take the heat at a steamy Riverside yesterday.

While others kept Durham interested by self-destructing after promising starts, McGrath soldiered on to make his first championship century of the season.

Nor did he finish there as he held a diving catch at wide mid-on as Durham, with four overs to bat, slipped to 14 for two in reply to Yorkshire's 331.

It was almost a re-run of Durham's home match as they had three overs to bat at the end of the first day against Glamorgan and lost Jon Lewis and nightwatchman Neil Killeen.

This time Marcus North carelessly pulled Steve Kirby to McGrath in the third over and Killeen fell with two balls left, caught at silly point off Richard Dawson's off-spin.

It was a disappointing finish for Durham after reducing Yorkshire from 250 for four, with Shoaib Akhtar doing some damage with the second new ball.

In his first four short spells the Pakistani looked at his most venomous when bowling his only three overs from the Lumley End, and it was there that he returned for the 92nd over.

First he bowled Dawson round his legs, clipping the leg stump, then knocked out Tim Bresnan's off pole two balls later.

But McGrath was past 100 by that stage and having taken 224 balls to reach the landmark he began to show his one-day expertise.

When Shoaib tried a fast yorker, McGrath stepped back and steered it to the third man boundary. He then gave his only chance on 111 when Mark Davies and Nicky Peng closed in on a skied straight hit off Killeen. They almost collided and Davies was clearly distracted in spilling the chance.

McGrath had hit 15 fours and two sixes in making 126 when he again gave himself room to hit Shoaib through the off side and lost his leg stump, the Pakistani finishing with with four for 64.

With the squad for the triangular one-day series to be announced next week, McGrath's innings was a timely reminder to the selectors that his winter frustrations have not ended his England ambitions.

He made 81, his highest score in his four Tests, on this ground against Zimbabwe last summer, but 179 in six championship innings prior to yesterday had left him in danger of being forgotten.

He showed the value of his experience as he diligently provided the ballast after Yorkshire raced out of the blocks then suffered a wobble.

Although there were two sixes in McGrath's first 50, one of them stemmed from virtually his only mistake as a miscued pull off Davies flew much higher than intended and dropped just over the short boundary in front of the scoreboard.

A healthy mixture of members and visitors had gravitated to the block of 2,000 seats in this corner of the ground, where they had an excellent view of the absorbing contest.

With Chris Silverwood ruled out by an abscess on a tooth, Yorkshire chose to bat on one of the lightest coloured pitches seen at Riverside and galloped to 79 before the first wicket fell in the 15th over.

Perhaps the ECB had heard that recent pitches had not quite been up to scratch, or perhaps it was simply Riverside's turn on the pitch inspectors' rota. But it was the wrong time for John Jameson to turn up and he quickly decided the ice cream van was a more attractive proposition than finding fault with the playing surface.

Although there were a few early edges, Matthew Wood and Phil Jaques were beginning to look unstoppable against some mediocre bowling in the first hour.

Wood looked in good form from the moment in the third over when he clipped a near-yorker from Shoaib sweetly through mid-wicket for four.

Most of the other nine fours he hit in reaching 50 off 56 balls came through the off side, while Jaques cut and pulled until over-confidence saw him sky an attempted pull off Davies to backward square leg, where Shoaib held a running catch. It was Davies's 37th championship wicket, taking him eight clear of the field, but this was not one of his better days.

Shoaib returned for a second spell and Wood, on 51, top-edged a hook over the wicketkeeper for his 11th four but then miscued an attempted pull to Gordon Muchall at mid-wicket.

Darren Lehmann began with exaggerated movement across his stumps against Shoaib, as if to get inside an expected barrage to the body.

The Pakistani looked closer to full steam than previously this season, but the only time he was really hostile was when trying to unsettle McGrath during his only spell from the Lumley End, where there appeared to be steeper bounce.

Neil Killeen produced the ball of the day from that end, taking off from a length, to have Lehmann caught by Andrew Pratt for nine.

At 118 for three with the two Australian left-handers out, Durham had recovered well from their early mauling. But Michael Lumb dug in to help McGrath in a stand of 53.

Having taken 30 balls to get off the mark, Lumb took ten off an over from Davies and moved comfortably to 28 before falling lbw to Paul Collingwood when aiming towards mid-wicket.

Then came a similar innings from Craig White, who contributed 27 to a stand of 79 before tamely falling into what appeared to be a simple trap. Muchall was posted at short extra cover and White punched a slower ball from Collingwood straight to him.

Simon Guy's attempt to consolidate his position as Yorkshire wicketkeeper continued to misfire as he was out second ball.

He gave himself room to force Gareth Breese's off spin through the off side and the ball turned enough to clip his off bail.

Yorkshire's patience must be wearing thin as Guy has totalled 66 runs in nine championship innings.

Dawson played well for 23 until Shoaib's double strike brought in 19-year-old Nick Thornicroft, who got off the mark by driving Killeen over long-off for six.

It was his only scoring stroke as he then edged to second slip and Kirby stood firm during McGrath's final onslaught.