WHEN Marc Symington went to the crease at the Riverside yesterday Durham had 520 fewer runs on the board than when he went in at Lord's.

If this was a measure of how quickly things can change in cricket, it was also a reflection of the continuing ill fortune which had precipitated their predicament against Worcestershire.

None of this was of any comfort to Martin Love, who scored 251 at Lord's only to join the casualty list for at least a month yesterday.

This was followed by the dubious dismissal of skipper Jon Lewis to the first ball of Durham's innings as they began their reply to 250.

He withdrew his bat from the first ball of Allan Donald's only championship appearance for Worcestershire. It appeared to brush his sleeve, but the appeal was upheld by Trevor Jesty.

Lewis was clearly not amused, but his mood would have lightened considerably during the evening session as Danny Law and Andrew Pratt played themselves in carefully then played some cracking shots in an unbroken stand of 104, which took Durham to 195 for four at the close. Pratt, virtually strokeless during a vigilant first hour at the crease, then hit nine fours in racing to an excellent half-century and was on 63 at the close.

Symington's 41 not out went unnoticed in the total of 645 for six declared against Middlesex, but yesterday there was a huge weight of responsibility on him with Durham on 34 for two and Love unable to bat because of a broken finger.

Following the loss of Michael Gough with flu on the first morning, Durham already had a lopsided team, and the batting looked wafer-thin when the jinx continued with Love's injury.

He ran straight off the field for treatment after being struck on the little finger of his right hand when reaching for a catch at third slip.

The latest in an extraordinary catalogue of injuries is a huge blow to Durham as Love looks likely to miss the return fixture at Worcester, the trip to run-laden Northampton and the match against Derbyshire at Darlington.

He will also miss five one-day matches, with the earliest possible return being for the C & G quarter-final, should Durham win at Bristol next Wednesday. Paul Collingwood hopes to return in that match after his knee injury

Love departed in the day's tenth over after trying to intercept the edged four off Neil Killeen which took Gareth Batty to his maiden championship 50.

As he was dropped on one and should have been run out on 14, Batty's survival to put on 105 for the sixth wicket with David Leatherdale proved very costly for Durham. A lot of the runs went to the vacant third man area, including all 11 in the over in which Love was hurt. Durham responded by posting a third man and in Killeen's next over Leatherdale edged him straight through third slip.

He then drove Hatch through mid-off for his ninth four to reach 50, but in the meantime Hatch had removed Batty to ensure career-best figures.

Batty had his off bail trimmed when offering no stroke and Hatch finished with four for 61.

Leatherdale then played down the wrong line and was bowled by Symington for 63 before Steve Rhodes became the third batsman in the innings to be bowled with bat aloft.

The bowler was Mark Davies, who also held a return catch offered by Alamgir Sheriyar to finish with three for 39, while Symington had Kabir Ali caught at third slip by substitute Nicky Phillips to record championship-best figures of three for 43.

As none of those bowled when shouldering arms were victims of sharp movement, it suggested a certain distrust of the pitch, and there was enough evidence of steep bounce to make Donald at full tilt a frightening proposition.

But at 35 he has lost some pace and after Lewis's exit he was thumped for three fours in three overs by Gary Pratt and Gordon Muchall before being removed.

Pratt made 20 before edging left-armer Sheriyar to second slip, bringing in Symington at 34 for two.

He showed his willingness to get stuck in by taking 23 balls to get off the mark, while Muchall continued to put away anything loose with his usual aplomb.

Once Symington began to prosper with a couple of handsome shots, it seemed the pair might put together something substantial.

But with the stand worth 49 Muchall fell for 46 during a superb over from Donald. Having played and missed at the first ball, he dug out a well-disguised slower yorker, but could do nothing about one which left him off the pitch, taking the edge on the way to Rhodes.

Symington spoilt his good work by driving at off-spinner Batty and edging to Rhodes, prompting Andrew Pratt and Danny Law to begin the long battle for survival.

Pratt took 62 minutes to open his account with a lofted drive off Batty which narrowly eluded r, le that Law needed time in the middle as his timing was awry.

But suddenly their patience was rewarded as Pratt repeatedly cracked Batty through the off side then lofted him for a straight four.

Having taken 48 balls to get off the mark, he took the same number to reach 50.

Law also began to locate the middle of the bat, and with Donald looking tired when he returned for four overs at the end, Durham's saviours survived without difficulty and will hope to prosper further today.

Read more about Durham here.