PHIL MUSTARD underlined his growing maturity by earning Durham a lead of one run yesterday.

If that was a bonus, it wasn’t so unexpected as the loss of half a day’s play that followed at Riverside.

Worcestershire faced only one ball in their second innings before the umpires decided to go off with the light deteriorating as a storm passed by to the north.

As their occasional forays back to the middle were greeted by slow handclaps, it was announced that they had gone off because the lightning raised concerns for the players’ safety.

All the sheeting was put out in anticipation of a torrential downpour, and although only intermittent light rain fell for two hours it grew heavier at 5pm to end prospects of a resumption.

After being one for three the previous evening, Durham suffered a second collapse in the morning, before Mustard curbed his natural instincts and showed it was possible to survive against the swinging ball.

He eventually provided more familiar glimpses of his flashing blade when in danger of running out of partners and was unbeaten on 63, having taken Durham from 59 for six to 194 all out.

Mustard had faced 50 balls for 17 at lunch and added only six in the first five overs after the break before cutting loose.

He took three fours in five balls off Kabir Ali, two driven and the third off a top-edged hook over the slips, before pinching a single off the last ball.

Off the first ball of the next over, a lofted straight drive off Matt Mason also sped to the rope, and when Mason made way for Chris Whelan, a leg glance gave Mustard his eighth four and took him to 50 off 82 balls.

He received good support from all the tail, putting on 46 with Liam Plunkett, 35 with Callum Thorp, 31 with Mitch Claydon and 23 with Mark Davies.

It was Davies who put Durham ahead when he pulled Whelan wide of mid-on for four, but he then got an inside edge into his stumps to end the innings.

In the morning, Kabir and Mason had used the humid conditions well, swinging the ball and causing Durham to lose three wickets for three runs.

Coming in after the calamitous start, Dale Benkenstein helped makeshift opener Kyle Coetzer put on 55.

They didn’t score a run off the day’s first four overs as they concentrated on survival against the testing bowling and Coetzer’s first scoring shot flew at waist height just wide of the slips.

Benkenstein also edged a four off Kabir before nicking a perfectly-pitched ball to the wicketkeeper to depart for 25.

Ian Blackwell fell for one when Mason brought one sharply back into the left-hander to pierce his defence and hit the top of off stump.

Kabir had been swinging the ball away, but moved one the other way to take out Coetzer’s off stump with the Scot on 30.

Fortunately for Durham, the change bowlers were hitthe- deck merchants rather than swingers. The Australian Ashley Noffke bowled two successive bouncers at Mustard and when Whelan came on, Plunkett immediately cut and pulled him for two fours.

Whelan bowled three overs for 20 runs before Mason returned and had Plunkett caught at third slip for 29, and after lunch Kabir completed a five-wicket haul when he had Thorp lbw for 17.

After having Claydon caught behind, Kabir finished with six for 68. As with Plunkett’s six for 63 the previous day, it was another reminder of the ups and downs of a promising career blighted by injuries.

Scoreboard

Durham v Worcestershire At Riverside

Overnight: Worcestershire 193 (A A Noffke 50; L E Plunkett 6-63).Durham 40-3.

Durham First Innings

K J Coetzer b Kabir Ali .........................30

D M Benkenstein c Knappett b Kabir Ali ... 25

I D Blackwell b Mason ......................... 1

P Mustard not out ..............................63

L E Plunkett c Batty b Mason ................29

C D Thorp lbw b Kabir Ali .....................17

M E Claydon c Knappett b Kabir Ali ...... 6

M Davies b Whelan ............................. 6

Extras (b4 lb5 w2 nb6 pens 0) ....17

Total (55.5 overs).................194

Fall: 1-0 2-0 3-1 4-56 5-59 6-59 7-105 8- 140 9-171

Bowling: Kabir Ali 18-4-68-6. Mason 21-8- 55-3. Noffke 10-4-28-0. Whelan 6.5-1-34-1.

Worcestershire Second Innings Close

D K Mitchell not out ............................ 0

A N Kervezee not out .......................... 0

Extras (pens 0)............................. 0

Total 0 wkts (0.1 overs) ................ 0

To Bat: M M Ali, B F Smith, D A Wheeldon, J P T Knappett, G J Batty, A A Noffke, Kabir Ali, C D Whelan, M S Mason.

Bonus Pts: Durham 3 Worcestershire 3

Bowling: Claydon 0.1-0-0-0.