JUST when it seemed Ottis Gibson might be resuming mortality yesterday, his golden arm was gifted two wickets and he earned five more to complete his second magnificent seven of the season. That's in addition to his perfect ten.

It took his tally of championship wickets to 55, with only Andrew Caddick and Danish Kaneria ahead of him, and cemented his clear lead at the top of the Professional Cricketers' Association rankings.

Also riding high in those is Phil Mustard, but Durham pushed their luck too far by sending him in to open on the back of his resounding one-day success.

He made only six before driving to mid-off, and when Kyle Coetzer departed next ball it seemed Durham might pay for tinkering with the batting order.

They'll be less inclined to do it against Lancashire next week, when they don't have the insurance of Shivnarine Chanderpaul at No 4, but yesterday he looked determined to sign off in style.

He survived a straightforward slip chance to Ben Smith at first slip on 21 to make 54 as Durham replied to Worcestershire's 182 with 201 for seven at Riverside, with off-spinner Gareth Batty taking five wickets.

Mustard had the consolation of beating Martin Speight's Durham wicketkeeping record of 61 first-class dismissals in a season when he collected the third of his four catches.

There was also some benefit in Mustard opening as it allowed the recalled Gordon Muchall to go in at six and he responded with a 54-ball half-century.

After failing to establish himself at No 3, Muchall has been left out of the last four games, but his positive approach paid off, despite one miscue over cover off Batty.

He also drove the spinner over long-on for six and timed his seven fours superbly as he dominated a stand of 85 with Chanderpaul and was unbeaten on 62 when bad light ended play eight overs early.

The West Indian seemed to be moving into top gear as he cut and on-drove Batty for two fours in an over to reach 50 off 71 balls. But two overs later he played defensively forward and the ball ran down his bat on to the stumps.

The second of two big appeals from Batty against Ben Harmison brought a raised finger from Jeff Evans, even though the 6ft 5in batsman was well forward.

That brought in Gibson in fading light and the man who can currently do little wrong gave Durham the lead with the help of a couple of edges, only to play on for 14.

Five weeks after his ten for 47 against Hampshire, Gibson's seven for 46 were the second best figures of his career.

Again he showed the value of experience as young bucks Liam Plunkett and Graham Onions had combined figures none for 96 in 21 overs until Plunkett took the final wicket. And Ben Harmison conceded 29 in four overs when Graeme Hick was on his way to 64 off 65 balls.

It is very rare for Dale Benkenstein to put the opposition in, and his thinking was probably influenced by the way Riverside pitches have flattened out in recent games, culminating in only three wickets going down on the final day against Surrey.

Conditions also proved conducive to swing, but initially it seemed Durham would squander the chance to make early inroads into the bottom club's line-up.

Gibson struggled almost as much as Plunkett, but with the score on 31 in the 11th over Daryl Mitchell cut a short ball straight to Muchall at backward point.

Mitchell, one of only two in the Worcestershire side born in the county, has waited all season for his chance after averaging 47 in four games last year.

Vikram Solanki opened up with two imperious strokes then pulled Gibson to mid-wicket, and as if to show his gratitude the bowler instantly improved.

Two balls later Ben Smith pushed forward and edged to Mustard, and the man who made the maiden first-class century against Durham in his Leicestershire days has now totalled two runs in three championship innings against them this season.

It became four wickets in 13 balls for Gibson when opener Stephen Moore edged low to first slip, where 12th man Gary Scott took the catch during a brief spell of deputising for Chanderpaul.

At 50 for four 41-year-old Hick began to play much as he always has against Durham, although he didn't trouble himself with quick singles as he scored all but ten of his runs in boundaries.

Durham's young seamers did not bowl well to him, and in one over he twice drove Plunkett through the off-side and also pulled him for six.

He had put on 60 with Bromsgrove-born wicketkeeper Steven Davies when the left-hander edged Paul Wiseman's second ball to Mustard and walked when it seemed he might not be given out.

Immediately after reaching 50 off 53 balls, Hick inside edged a four off Onions, who did not bowl as badly as his figures suggested.

Pakistani all-rounder Abdul Razzaq, a recent replacement for under-achieving Australian seamer Doug Bollinger, looked comfortable in a stand of 49. But after taking four for 29 in his ten-over opening spell, Gibson returned and produced the perfect ball to Hick.

It had him groping tentatively just outside off stump and Mustard took the edge as the innings sped to a conclusion.

Batty played across a full-length swinger to be lbw third ball, then Kabir Ali played back and edged Wiseman to Mustard.

Razzaq tried to pull Gibson and skied to Coetzer at mid-wicket and the last five wickets had gone down in ten overs when Plunkett had Nadeem Malik lbw.

Last man Dewald Nel was struck on the foot by Gibson and didn't take the field, but Durham were 14 for two after Malik removed Mustard and Coetzer, who pushed forward and edged to third slip.

Malik, however, appeared not to have learnt from his mauling by Michael Di Venuto in the first match of the season as he was repeatedly pulled to the boundary.

Di Venuto reached his 11th championship half-century for Durham off 54 balls with eight fours, but without addition he edged Batty via Davies' gloves to Hick at slip.

Two balls later Benkenstein played down the wrong line and was bowled, recording only his second championship duck in three seasons.

The fall of 17 wickets meant the game was following the Surrey pattern when 20 fell in the first 110 overs.

On that basis yesterday went well for Durham and they should win, but they'll want a second batting point today.