DERBYSHIRE found a willing workhorse in Graeme Welch and a spectacular assassin in Shahid Afridi to prey on Durham's depressing fragility at Riverside yesterday.

If Durham's first-class life seems to have been a succession of batting collapses, there have also been numerous examples of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. And yesterday threatened to be the worst example yet.

But for a shower at 6pm Durham might have turned an almost impregnable poisition at lunch into a three-day defeat.

The 16 overs still due to be bowled were reduced to five and when a wicket fell on the resumption Durham were marginal favourites.

But they couldn't shift their regular tormentor, Dominic Cork, who will resume on 48 today with his side needing 64 to win with four wickets standing.

At 106 for two at lunch Durham were 179 ahead, but 23.4 overs later they were all out for 149, and with 45 overs to make 223 Derbyshire looked on course for an extraordinary three-day win when Afridi blasted a 37-ball half-century.

Once he was fourth out for 67 with the total on 92 reality returned with the game finely balanced, but the irrepressible Cork took up the assault by following up Afridi's four sixes with three of his own.

The Pakistani had totalled 25 runs in five previous first-class innings for Derbyshire batting down the order, but he was sent in to open because Andrew Gait was ill.

He has only one more championship match to play before Indian Mohammad Kaif takes over for the rest of the season and was clearly determined to leave his mark as he thrashed 14 off the first over he faced.

Hetton-born Welch took his career-best six for 30 here two years ago and returned to haunt Durham again yesterday with five for 60.

Bowling a steady line and length and doing a little off the seam at a brisk medium pace, he was unlucky to take only one wicket when bowling 15 overs unchanged in the morning.

He returned after lunch for a further 11.4, but Durham's collapse began off the first ball after the interval at the other end.

Derbyshire posted two men on the boundary behind square and Mohammad Ali pitched a gentle loosener halfway down the pitch.

Martin Love, who had made 41, was unable to resist such tempting bait. But he got the ball too high on the bat and skied it straight to the finer of the two fielders.

In the next over Gary Pratt tried to cut a ball from Welch which looked too full for the shot, especially as he had made only two, and edged it to wicketkeeper Luke Sutton.

Worse followed as Gordon Muchall tried to pull another Ali long hop from outside off stump and succeeded only in lobbing it to mid-off. Danny Law studiously ignored the left-arm paceman's attempts to land a third sucker punch and after four overs Ali was rested with figures of two for two.

Law, however, cannot find any semblance of form and after making seven off 40 balls he pushed forward and had his off-stump trimmed by Cork.

It was Cork's first wicket of the match and he celebrated joyously as he claims never to have gone through a first-class match for Derbyshire without taking a wicket.

He soon had another, pinning Andrew Pratt lbw, then the persevering Welch finally snared Vince Wells.

He had him dropped by Sutton on nought and thought he had him lbw next ball, but Wells battled on to make 15 before an attempted pull flew high over slip, giving Cork time to turn and take a comfortable catch.

Neil Killeen was lbw to the next ball and in Welch's next over Nicky Phillips obligingly clipped the ball straight down the throat of deep mid-wicket, deliberately positioned for the shot.

A number of players had got out recklessly, but for sheer stupidity this shot took the biscuit.

If heads were down they were quickly lifted when Michael Di Venuto fell lbw fifth ball to Dewald Pretorius, who was rewarded for pitching one up after being pulled for four two balls earlier.

But Afridi immediately laid into Killeen, clipping his first ball through mid-wicket for four, driving the third over long-off for six and the fifth wide of mid-off for four.

In Killeen's third over Afridi began by cracking a back-foot four through the covers, then followed a delicate late cut for four by clubbing a six over long-on.

On 34 he survived a confident lbw appeal from Pretorius and with the total on 48 after seven overs, Wells replaced Killeen.

He immediately had left-hander Steve Selwood caught at first slip by Love and in his next over Dominic Hewson played a poor shot to go the same way.

Afridi played five first-class matches for Leicestershire at the end of the 2001 season under Wells' captaincy, scoring 95 off 58 balls to win a C & G semi-final.

The Pakistani was clearly as keen to get after Wells as everybody else, but managed only a series of singles until he smashed one straight to Phillips on the mid-wicket boundary.

Law came on to have Sutton caught at the wicket and Gait defied his gastro-enteritis to come in at No 7.

But he was bowled off his pads by Phillips, leaving Kevin Dean to keep Cork company to the close.

Cork scored 200 against Durham at Derby two years ago and won the match there last season with the ball.

It will be too much to bear if he proves the match-winner again.

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