Durham v Yorkshire (County Championship) : Day One
FOR the second successive week a world-class left-hander wrested control from Durham as Jaques Rudolph scored an unbeaten 104 for Yorkshire at Riverside.
Durham were not in quite such command as they were prior to Kumar Sangakkara's transformation at Edgbaston, but when they had Yorkshire 158 for four with Adil Rashid coming to the crease the door was ajar.
The 19-year-old all-rounder quickly overcame a first-ball scare, when he almost gave a return catch, and fearlessly contributed 30 to a stand of 65 with Rudolph, who then found staunch support from Tim Bresnan.
Despite excellent bowling from Ottis Gibson, Yorkshire were 351 for six at the close after winning the toss on another good Riverside pitch.
Rudolph's off-side driving was the feature of his innings as the stroke produced three fours in an over off Graham Onions and a six off Paul Wiseman.
Although there were encouraging signs that Mark Davies' comeback is gaining momentum, the best bowler was Gibson.
In the absence of the usual bite from the Onions and Mustard combination, Gibson was stung into action, not because he was left out of the last home match against Kent, but by the attentions of a bee.
It stopped him in his tracks in mid run-up early in his first spell as it stung him on the neck, but he had already made the breakthrough with his fourth ball after coming on for the 11th over.
Joe Sayers, who batted for over nine hours in the first innings of last month's Headingley clash, played one scoring stroke in 36 balls before gloving a leg-side catch to Phil Mustard.
Two balls later Gibson beat Anthony McGrath with a beauty, but after taking one for eight in six overs it was his post-lunch spell which really impressed.
Initially he came under fire, although not as much as Mitch Claydon, as the tempo changed completely with 46 runs coming off the first five overs after the break.
It appeared that Martyn Moxon had done Durham no favours by signing Claydon from Yorkshire before switching camps.
Craig White's stand with Younus Khan was worth 110 when the ex-captain made a very late decision to withdraw his bat from a good-length ball which hit his off stump.
Gibson then had a good lbw appeal against Younus turned down before the next one was upheld two balls later, the Pakistani departing for 49 when aiming to mid-wicket.
McGrath had fallen to the same shot off Davies, except that he middled it straight into the hands of Kyle Coetzer to continue his meagre championship run on a ground where he rarely fails. He has now totalled 62 runs in six innings.
Durham's decision to give Claydon his first championship appearance since he played for Yorkshire at Riverside last July initially looked sound.
Sharing the new ball with Onions, he induced an inside edge from White which flew just over short leg and comprehensively beat the same batsman on seven.
The streaks in Claydon's hair, however, were certainly not matched by any highlights in his bowling during a post-lunch spell in which five successive balls were put away for four.
The first two, just behind square either side of the wicket, took White to 50 off 129 balls, then the first three balls of Claydon's next over were driven to the boundary by Younus, who also brought an excellent stop out of Will Smith at cover.
Claydon was unlucky when White, on 57, edged just over second slip's head, where Michael Di Venuto could only finger-tip the ball towards the boundary.
But most of the paceman's better balls in this spell resulted from over-stepping and in total he sent down 11 no-balls in 17 overs, lifting the total of extras to 41.
Also making his first appearance of the season was off-spinner Wiseman, who kept things tight and helped to bring the over-rate up to scratch following the deduction of half a point at Edgbaston.
But Durham have still to take a championship with spin this season, a throwback to two years ago when Gareth Breese first struck in the fifth match, also at home to Yorkshire.
Rashid looked a little too flamboyant at times, but fell when merely pushing at an excellent ball from Davies, which left him and took the edge.
Bresnan then took 22 balls to get off the mark and Rudolph, who became much more vigilant after racing to 50 off 60 balls.
When Bresnan edged Gibson through the vacant third slip area he had contributed 26 to the 50 stand, but when a third slip was posted Gordon Muchall held the edge to see off Bresnan for 27 and leave Gibson with four for 70.
That was in the tenth over with the second new ball, with which Onions continued to be out of luck, despite bowling well.
When he made way for Claydon's return Rudolph's cover drives began to flow again, and after labouring into the 80s he raced through the 90s.
His second successive championship century, and third of the season, came off 169 balls with 15 fours and a six.
Wicketkeeper Simon Guy survived precariously, an edge off Claydon not quite carrying to Di Venuto at second slip, to remain unbeaten on 25.
SCORECARD
Durham v Yorkshire at Riverside. Yorkshire won toss
Yorkshire First Innings
C White b Gibson 64
J J Sayers c Mustard b Gibson 4
A McGrath c K J Coetzer b Davies 7
Younus Khan lbw b Gibson 49
J A Rudolph not out 104
A Rashid c Mustard b Davies 30
T T Bresnan c Muchall b Gibson 27
S M Guy not out 25
Extras (b4 lb1 w2 nb34 pens 0) 41
Total 6 wkts (104 overs) 351
Fall: 1-24 2-35 3-145 4-158 5-233 6-294
To Bat: D Gough, J N Gillespie, G J Kruis.
Bowling: Onions 20-5-69-0. Claydon 17-0-94-0.
Gibson 23-7-70-4. Davies 18-5-44-2. Wiseman
19-6-43-0. Benkenstein 7-0-26-0.
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