DURHAM'S injury jinx had a silver lining yesterday in the shape of Gary Pratt's best first-class score of 66.

Skipper Jon Lewis joined the casualties, but the back injury which forced him to miss his first championship match for four years spared him from having to choose between Pratt and Michael Gough as his opening partner.

Instead they put on 71 to lay the basis of a total of 238 for three in 78 overs on a showery, windswept first day against Gloucestershire at the Riverside after Paul Collingwood won the toss in his first outing as captain.

Durham do not have an official vice-captain, but for those who feel it is high time they started grooming Collingwood this was an encouraging start.

He capitalised on the sound platform by cracking an unbeaten 47 and sharing a stand of 83 in 20 overs with Martin Love, who surprisingly fell three overs before the close for 78. Although play began on time, it was not a pleasant day to be in the field, especially for those bowlers who had the unenviable task of toiling into the strong south-westerly.

The wind whisked off the bails several times, and even succeeded twice in removing Jack Russell's prized hat. He just didn't look the same without it.

Pratt had totalled 49 in five previous first-class innings this season and, having also played seven one-day knocks, he had a top score of 23 in the Benson & Hedges Cup tie against Yorkshire.

But Durham's perseverance was rewarded as he was never in trouble, apart from a couple of edges, one of which came immediately after a painful blow in the unmentionables with his score on 41.

He was struck by Jonathan Lewis, the only bowler to threaten on another placid Riverside pitch, on which Gloucestershire coach John Bracewell admitted his side would have loved to bat first.

The visitors again preferred left-arm spinner Ian Fisher to off-spinner Martyn Ball, who was in the England squad during the winter and recently aired his grievances with Gloucestershire's selection.

Fisher was on as early as the 12th over, and in three spells into the wind the only striking thing about him was the similarity of his action to that of Richard Stemp, who used to keep him out of the Yorkshire team.

Fisher's tasty bait, however, helped him to snare Pratt. He almost had him on 62, when the ball flew straight up off the left-hander's pad and was threatening to trickle on to the stumps when he kicked it away.

Two overs later Pratt drove Fisher through mid-off for his eighth four, but when the next ball was tossed a little higher he went down the pitch and was comfortably stumped by Russell.

With the emphasis on crease occupation after gaining only two batting points from three games, Gough had scored only four before he hit Fisher for a straight six in the 18th over.

He was dropped by Kiwi Craig Spearman on 17 at first slip off Ben Gannon and two balls later a heavy shower sent the players scampering off. Gough drove Mark Alleyne's first ball on the resumption imperiously through the covers, but three overs later more rain prevented further play until 2.50.

Gough added seven before he fell for 32 in the eighth over of the afternoon, lbw when well forward to Alleyne.

It was a disappointment, but the stand of 71 was a big improvement on Durham's previous best first wicket partnership of the season - 37 in the B & H match at Trent Bridge, when Nicky Peng scored most of the runs.

Pratt was on 33 when he edged a slower ball from Alleyne through the slips for three, then a four through cover in the next over took him past his best first-class score of 37, made against Worcestershire at the Riverside last year.

Another cover-driven four off Fisher, followed by a swept single took him to 50 off 108 balls.

Love was always in command, apart from failing to connect with a couple of airy drives, one of which brought a big appeal for caught behind.

The emphasis on survival perhaps made him a little more circumspect than he might normally be against struggling bowlers, but the acting captain was in no mood to let anything loose go unpunished.

Collingwood quickly lofted Fisher for four to long-on and on 15 swept him very fine for four then drove the next ball for a straight six.

Love's 50 took 91 balls and he had moved into overdrive by hitting successive fours off Alleyne when the wily all-rounder beat his intended drive to bowl him off his pads.

This will go down as another missed century for Love following his 71 at Cardiff, but Collingwood will hope to go at least one better than the 99 he made against Glamorgan.

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