NEVER have so many wickets fallen in a day at the Riverside. And that's saying something.

The umpires are obliged to alert the pitch inspectorate at Lord's if 15 fall in a day, but yesterday 18 fell between lunch and the fifth over after tea.

The explanation had little to do with the pitch, although it did offer some movement after sweating under the covers before and during the first day's washout.

It had more to do with the inability of the batsmen to play the swinging ball as 13 of the first innings victims fell to edged catches and three more were out shouldering arms.

Someone joked that the umpires should report 20 batsmen to Lord's rather than the pitch, and while Derbyshire are clearly a poor side Durham were reduced to being little better.

They were 11 for three in their second innings, 41 ahead, when Martin Speight decided to go for broke. Speight's attempts to bat with greater caution since arriving from Sussex four years ago have not brought the hoped-for results.

But yesterday there was more swash to his buckle, and with eight cracking fours in his unbeaten 43 he took Durham to 73 for four at the close, 103 ahead.

He dominated the day's biggest stand of 61 with Paul Collingwood, who chopped the ball into his stumps just before bad light ended play with 7.4 overs left.

Conditions could ease considerably today, of course, and Speight will hope to add substantially to his score in the company of a lengthy tail.

Durham suffered more misfortune following the addition of Michael Gough to the casualty list as Danny Law pulled out because of his girl friend's pregnancy problems. Ian Hunter was recalled and his first over cost 18 runs, five of them from wides, which Durham could ill afford in such a low-scoring contest.

He bowled two more overs before being replaced by James Brinkley with Derbyshire on 46 for one and 20 overs later they were all out for 95, 30 behind.

Brinkley's ten-over spell of superbly-controlled out-swing brought him figures of six for 14, bettering the career-best six for 32 he took in his first championship match for Durham against Gloucestershire. He was a shade lucky to have Derbyshire's acting captain Michael Di Venuto well caught by debutant Gary Scott in his first over, but the rest of his wickets were well earned. Four were caught off the edge, the other yorked.

"The pitch is fine," said Brinkley. "There's just enough grass on it to stop the ball getting scuffed up, which means you can keep a good shine on it. That doesn't happen on harder, more abrasive surfaces.

"On a flat wicket like we had at Lord's I just become a stock bowler because I haven't got the pace to trouble batsmen.

"The ball hasn't done a lot off the seam here but it has swung all day. It also swung for us at Kidderminster and the captain asked us to do what we did there, swinging it away from an off stump line.

"You need a bit of luck because there are days when you bowl like that and take nothing. Sometimes the cricketing gods smile on you."

There was also a career-best for Graeme Welch, who took six for 30 against his native county.

Like Brinkley it is the second time this season he has improved his best figures following a switch of county. Also like Brinkley, he came on first change after the openers had made a good start and struck immediately.

Jimmy Daley had made 20 out of a stand of 34 with Jon Lewis when he pushed forward to his former Hetton School colleague, and edged to second slip, where Di Venuto brilliantly clung on to the first of his five catches.

With left-armer Kevin Dean beginning to swing the ball prodigiously Martin Love shouldered arms and was bowled for the first time in 22 championship innings.

Later in the day he was bowled first ball by Dean, this time playing across another big in-swinger.

After winning the toss for the first time in ten championship matches, Lewis must have wished he had fielded first as Collingwood went for nought, edging Dean low to Di Venuto's left.

Speight offered the Tasmanian a more straightforward catch, then Scott celebrated becoming Durham's youngest first-class player by driving Welch through the covers for four.

He also edged a boundary before playing loosely outside off stump to give Di Venuto more catching practice.

Andrew Pratt then put bat to ball effectively, especially when Trevor Smith returned in place of Welch, and he had put on 46 with Lewis to take Durham into calmer waters at 108 for five at lunch.

But Lewis drove at Welch's second ball after the break to edge to you know who for 41, then Pratt was lbw to Dean for 31 and the last five wickets went down for 17 runs.

Derbyshire's flying start hinted at a healthy lead, but they found Brinkley almost unplayable and the collapse was amazingly swift.

The clatter of wickets continued after tea as Lewis was lbw in the second over to Dean, then Love's exit was swiftly followed by Daley edging Welch to wicketkeeper Karl Krikken.

Welch soldiered on and picked up his eighth wicket of the day when Collingwood chopped on

Now Durham fans will be happy for conditions to remain similar, even if it means a match which began a day late finishes a day early.