GRAHAM Onions apart, Durham yesterday struggled to shake off the rust of two days' inactivity at Derby.

Making his championship debut, 21-year-old Onions bowled three lively spells and took the first two of the four wickets to fall after play began at noon on the third day.

The rest of the bowling wasn't quite bad enough for the Durham attack to be labelled tripe and Onions, but it lacked penetration, especially during a third-wicket stand of 152.

Taking over Michael di Venuto's role as an Australian left-hander guaranteed to plunder a century against Durham, Chris Rogers made 151 not out as Derbyshire reached 311 for four in 90 overs.

He was assisted by 72 from Hasan Adnan, a Pakistani who has several seasons of league cricket in this country behind him and has a residential qualification.

Derbyshire's previous third-wicket record against Durham surprisingly featured Robin Weston, who contributed his best score against his home county of 45 in a partnership of 121 with Kim Barnett at Derby in 1998.

Durham might have breathed a sigh of relief when Di Venuto withdrew from the Derbyshire captaincy this season following a back operation. He scored 150 in the championship at Riverside last season and 143 in the return fixture, but his Western Australian successor proved just as big an obstacle.

A dapper little player, Rogers survived a stumping chance off Graeme Bridge on 92 but otherwise was rarely troubled on a pitch which played better than might have been expected after sweating under covers for three days.

Onions generally bowled a full length, but when he did bang one in short he achieved good carry through to Andrew Pratt and had both his victims caught in the slips.

He certainly looked more likely to take wickets than Reon King, the man he replaced in the Durham team after their two opening defeats. Durham quickly reached a situation on a cold, bleak day where the most they could hope for from this match was a couple of bowling points and a possible run chase today.

Following the loss of 224 overs, the logical way for the game to progress on the final day would be for Derbyshire to declare at 350 then both sides forfeit an innings.

But the home coach David Houghton is said not to be interested in such contrivance, partly because injuries have left him short of bowlers.

Onions had left-hander Steve Stubbings comfortably taken by Marcus North at first slip in the eighth over, having already found the edge of his bat a couple of times.

The other opener, Zimbabwe-born Andrew Gait, twice edged Liam Plunkett just short of the slips and was swiftly overtaken by Rogers, who quickly showed he could play either side of the wicket off the back foot.

When Durham pitched it up to him he also unveiled some punchy straight drives, such as the one off Onions which took him to 50 off 111 balls.

Gait had made 37 out of 103 when he pushed wide of off stump at Onions and was well taken by Ian Pattison at second slip.

Bridge found the edge of Rogers' bat when coming on in the 46th over, but was then promptly despatched to the mid-wicket boundary.

Durham went for spin at both ends, with Gareth Breese coming on for his first championship bowl, but Adnan looked very secure after coming into the game with an average of 75 in four first-class matches for Derbyshire.

He reached 50 off 77 balls by edging Mark Davies to third man for a single, then Rogers, on 88, pulled the next ball for four, just clearing Bridge, who was 12 yards in from the boundary at fine leg.

An on-drive by Rogers off Breese gave him his 13th four and took him to his 196-ball hundred, which he celebrated with a front-foot pull for a big six off Davies.

Adnan finally played over a ball from Breese and was bowled, then another EU-qualified import, Tasmanian Chris Bassano, drove Breese for a straight six before an attempted cut off Plunkett flew high to third man, where Davies ran in to take a good catch.

* Durham will be spared another ordeal at the hands of Michael Kasprowicz next month as the Glamorgan bowler has to leave four days before their visit to Riverside. The Queenslander is in the Australian squad for the tour to Zimbabwe, and if he retains his place for the home series against Sri Lanka, he will also miss Durham's visit to Cardiff, starting on June 23.

Glamorgan have lined up 20-year-old South Australian Shaun Tait as their replacement, and he is said to be quick.

But he is unlikely to cause the same jitters as Kasprowicz, who took nine for 36 in Durham's second innings at Sophia Gardens last year, then followed up with nine for 45 in their second innings at Riverside.

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