FOR the second time in his career Jon Lewis yesterday suffered the agony of falling for 99 at Riverside. But unlike the 133-run defeat by Sussex in 2001, he at least had the satisfaction of knowing his 89 overs of graft had put Durham in an impregnable position.

At 239 for seven when he was out, Durham led by 345, but just to make sure Middlesex couldn't win they batted on to be all out for 261.

If they weren't already ground into submission, the men from Lord's were then instantly rocked by Graham Onions twice splattering the stumps in the second over.

Continuing his sensational improvement since his last two appearances last season, he swung one in to bowl Ed Smith then produced an unplayable ball to remove left-hander Ben Hutton.

It pitched on leg stump and hit off to leave Middlesex on eight for two, then Mick Lewis weighed in with two wickets to make it 41 for four.

Owais Shah shouldered arms to a ball which didn't have to move in far to earn an lbw verdict, then the Australian slanted one across left-hander Ed Joyce to have him caught at first slip by Gareth Breese.

Jamie Dalrymple and Nick Compton dug in for the remaining 14 overs before bad light ended play with Middlesex on 87 for four, still 280 behind.

There was a hint of nerves when Lewis scampered a single to mid-off on 94 and profited from four overthrows then failed to connect with a flat-footed waft at Alan Richardson.

It was the sort of shot he had avoided throughout a stubborn 346-minute vigil which was just what the doctor ordered for Durham. But he repeated it two overs later and sliced to gully, where Hutton held his fourth catch of the innings.

Chris Silverwood, who bowled impressively throughout, then earned his reward by taking the last three wickets to finish with match figures of nine for 135.

It was Lewis' highest score since he made 127 at Colchester in August, 2004, which was around the time he realised he would lose the captaincy to Mike Hussey for the following season.

Although he invariably did a solid job at the top of the order last year, averaging 29.07, his top score was 52 before a shoulder injury ended his season.

Having survived 36 testing overs on Thursday evening to reach 28, Lewis continued in the same obdurate vein and was on 30 after 44 overs when Richardson replaced Johann Louw and was driven to the extra cover boundary.

A cut for four off Silverwood followed, but these strokes signalled that Lewis was alert to scoring opportunities rather than any change of intent.

Durham knew that with Melvyn Betts absent with a back injury they could profit from wearing down the Middlesex attack, and the pressure was off when Hutton introduced his own gentle medium pace.

Lewis turned him to deep mid-wicket for three to complete a 178-ball half-century, which meant he was scoring at roughly half the average rate, although he was doing exactly the job Durham required.

He was on 60 at lunch and there was some sign that the threat of rain had prompted a change of gear afterwards as he twice drove off-spinner Jamie Dalrymple for four in one over.

In fact, he scored all but two of the stand of 23 with Breese, who was dropped at point on nought.

The unlucky bowler was again Silverwood and as soon as he made way for Richardson, Breese felt for the first ball outside off stump and edged it to wicketkeeper Ben Scott.

That brought in Phil Mustard but the promise of fireworks came from another direction with a huge flash of lightning signalling a retreat, although the bad light was officially to blame.

The downpour skirted the ground, however, with the six overs lost taking the day's total at that point to 11 after play began seven minutes late and there was a further interruption after eight balls.

With Silverwood again bowling well, Durham had added only four runs, one of them a leg bye, when Gary Pratt fell in the day's sixth over.

Pushing forward, he edged Silverwood low to Hutton's right at second slip, where the visiting captain held a good catch.

Dale Benkenstein pulled the first ball he faced for four and continued to bat fluently, hitting seven more fours in reaching 48 off 76 balls.

With the stand worth 86 he tried to drive Dalrymple in the last over before lunch and the edge flew up off Scott to be caught behind the wicketkeeper by Hutton, swooping round from slip.

As Breese's struggle for Riverside runs continued, Lewis' post-lunch momentum was stalled by the interruptions.

In ten overs between the afternoon breaks only 24 runs were added and when an early tea was taken Lewis was on 94.

With the threat of rain today, Durham needed to press on and get Middlesex in, which prompted Mustard to sky an attempted big hit to the wicketkeeper.

Ottis Gibson smashed two huge sixes off Dalrymple before Silverwood bowled him for 17. He also bowled Callum Thorp for nine and had Onions well caught by Shah at second slip.

Steve Harmison will make his comeback after a shin injury in Durham's crucial C & G Trophy match against Lancashire at Old Trafford tomorrow.

Lancashire are top of the northern group with three wins from three and Durham are second with two from two.

After missing the current match to be present at the birth of his third daughter, Harmison joins the eleven on duty against Middlesex, with Neil Killeen also added to the squad.

Ronnie Irani set up the prospect of a last-day run chase for Essex with an enterprising declaration at Taunton.

The captain was 141 not out when he closed his side's first innings on 400 for four, 71 behind Somerset, rather than batting on in a bid to build a sizeable lead.

Somerset declared their second innings at 275 for five in the final over of the day, leaving Essex 347 to win.

Read more about Durham here.