THE rain has held off and Durham will just about be satisfied to have picked up three wickets this afternoon. They will not want to chase much more than 150 and on 164 for six Surrey lead by 115.

The ball is not turning as much as might have been expected, which is a reminder of Old Trafford four years ago. In the first innings Gary Keedy took six wickets for Lancashire, then Ian Blackwell responded with seven before the pitch went dead and stalemate ensued.

That will not happen here if Surrey surrender any more wickets carelessly after Steve Davies departed for 46 when he pulled Scott Borthwick to deep mid-wicket, where Mark Stoneman held a comfortable catch.

It would have been too much to expect debut boy Ryan Buckley to follow up his five-wicket haul with another bag and the luck has not been with him this time. He has beaten the left handers a few times and nearly had Zander de Bruyn when Will Smith was unable to hang on to a very sharp chance at short leg.

With Ben Stokes still not fit to bowl, Durham have been another bowler down with Chris Rushworth off the field, although that has had the benefit of 12th man Keaton Jennings making a couple of brilliant stops.

The spinners made a bad start after lunch with the first seven balls costing 12 runs, and Paul Collingwood came on at 87 for three after 33 overs. His first ball kept low to defeat Vikram Somanki’s attempted pull and he was lbw for 20.

De Bruyn also made 20 before he was lbw to another ball which skidded on, this time from Borthwick, who has three for 41.