GORDON Muchall's third first-class century was his least fluent, but its value was underlined by another Durham collapse at Riverside yesterday.

The wiles of two India A spinners prompted a slide from 175 for one to 244 for seven before Ian Hunter brought some much-needed entertainment with a few lusty blows before Durham declared once they had avoided the follow-on.

Replying to the tourists' 482 for nine declared, painstakingly compiled over 147 overs, Durham were unable even to match their visitors' scoring rate on the lifeless pitch.

It was a pity that the construction workers building a health centre in a corner of the ground took the weekend off as watching their paint dry might have provided a more gripping alternative for some fans.

Muchall needed 249 balls to score his 121, but the bowlers were a class above the Durham University attack, off which he scored 101 not out last month.

He will have learnt much about how to play quality spin as left-armer Murali Kartik and leg-spinner Amit Mishra bowled 77 overs between them, and despite the slowness of the turn they imposed a complete stranglehold on the Durham middle order in mid-afternoon.

Both blotted their copybooks by over-stepping with ridiculous frequency for spinners, bowling 23 no-balls between them, but this may simply have been a reflection of their enthusiasm.

Even when the batsmen were at their most sleep-inducing there was no chance of the excitable young Indians nodding off as they danced gleefully whenever they thought there was a hint of a bat-pad catch.

"I faced some good spinners with the academy when we went to Sri Lanka in the winter, but they probably weren't as consistent as these two," said Muchall.

"Mishra bowled a good googly which turned quite a bit. I didn't read the first two, but after that I could read it in the air.

"The left-armer was not as big a spinner, but he was always on the spot and varied his pace.

"It was hard for the lads who had to come in and face spin straightaway.

"I batted longer than that in one of the Under 19 Tests against India at Cardiff last year, but this was my longest first-class innings.

"The coach wanted me to spend time at the crease and get my feet in good positions, so hopefully this will have been good experience."

Mishra, 20, is one of four members of the touring side who stand no more than 5ft 4in and even on a livelier pitch is unlikely to trouble batsmen with bounce.

But he varies his flight well and it was only when his fingers tired towards the end of 26 overs unchanged that Hunter was able to get after him in his innings of 44.

Durham were glad that Hunter could get on the field at all as he bowled one over on Saturday before limping off with an ankle problem.

His absence threw more weight on Nicky Hatch, who has just recovered from a torn Achilles and had to bowl 33 overs for his two for 77.

He was the most economical of the bowlers, although Nicky Phillips ended up with most wickets when he took three in successive overs from the Lumley End when the Indians finally tried to press on.

With a full session to bat on Saturday, Durham reached 94 for one, with Amit Bhandari keen to point Jon Lewis to the pavilion after cutting one back to remove his off stump.

Michael Gough, in need of time at the crease after missing the last championship match against Hampshire because of a family bereavement, was on 25 not out after 36 overs and continued in the same vein yesterday.

The Indians seemed content to play a waiting game and a lot of well-struck shots failed to pierce the defensive field.

Gough finally drove Mishra over mid-off for his sixth four to reach 50 off 180 balls, but in the last over before lunch he went down the pitch to the leg-spinner and was stumped.

Muchall, who reached 50 off 100 balls, profited from several well-timed cuts, but the stroke twice almost brought his downfall.

He was on 55 when the wicketkeeper got a glove to an edged four and ten runs later Muchall was missed at gully.

Otherwise he was very secure and in a very evenly-paced innings he had 11 fours in his hundred and added one more before he fell to the 249th ball he faced, edging a cut to the wicketkeeper.

Neither Gary Pratt, Nicky Peng nor Vince Wells could get going against the spinners, perishing mainly though frustration after being in for some time.

Pratt gave a bat-pad catch to short leg when trying to turn Kartik to leg, Peng tried to hit the left-armer over mid-wicket and skied a catch to the wicketkeeper and Wells drove to mid-off. Phil Mustard was lucky to score two, lobbing an attempted sweep just out of short fine leg's reach before falling next ball to a bat-pad catch.

Hunter hit Kartik over mid-wicket for six and several of his five fours fell just short of the rope as he put on 66 with Phillips before slicing to backward point.

Phillips resisted for 26 overs to make 19 before opening bowler Lakshmipathi Balaji returned and nipped one back to take out his leg stump.

Durham still needed six to avoid the follow-on, but Hatch is no mug with the blade and once he and Mark Davies had accomplished the task Durham declared on 333 for nine.

In three overs to the close the tourists reached three without loss and are are 152 ahead going into the final day.

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