DENIS Compton would probably have fallen asleep watching his grandson, Nick, score 254 not out for Somerset against Durham yesterday.

There again, he probably fell asleep watching most of his Middlesex and England team-mates bat because he had usually been out for most of the night.

Denis was known for menacing attacks with a blend of daring and improvisation, but the cavalier approach which helped to make him a pin-up in post-war England is now reserved largely for the one-day arena.

Living in the shadow of such a legend cannot have been easy for Nick and although he made his previous best of 190 for Middlesex against Durham at Lord's five years ago, he has never threatened to go on to higher things.

In his first season with Somerset last year, he totalled 465 runs in 11 matches without making a century. So, to convert his first championship ton for the Cidermen into the joint second highest score at Chester-le-Street was a massive achievement.

Michael Di Venuto made the same score as Compton against Sussex two years ago and the only man to have beaten it was Martin Love. The Australian scored 273 for Durham against Hampshire in 2003.

Somerset declared on 610 for six at 2.45pm and Durham replied with 182 for four, Di Venuto making 86.

Will Smith and Gordon Muchall missed the boat and, with the return of Mark Stoneman and Paul Collingwood looming, neither is doing enough to cement his place.

Smith helped to put on 71 for the first wicket, but was troubled early on by left-armer Charl Willoughby and made only 13 before edging a checked drive to third slip, where Peter Trego dived to hold an excellent catch.

Steve Kirby took the next wicket when Muchall pushed forward and edged to first slip, departing with a suspicious look at the pitch, as did Ben Stokes when he was undone by extra bounce from the 6ft 5in Gemaal Hussain.

Stokes had looked good in reaching 21, but by flashing at a ball he should have left alone he edged high to first slip.

Di Venuto had looked in complete command, an effortless straight drive producing the best of his 13 fours. But, in trying to attack the accurate seam bowling of 18-year-old Devon boy Lewis Gregory, he sliced a drive to Compton at point.

It was left to Dale Benkenstein and Phil Mustard to add 43 in the final 11 overs with Ian Blackwell pushed down the order following a back spasm, which kept him off the field for most of the day.

Three visiting batsmen have scored exactly 200 at the Riverside ground, but Compton was the first to go beyond that in a largely colourless vigil which lasted just over nine hours.

He batted better on the first day in reaching 149 and after being dropped off the last ball of the day at first slip he almost edged to second slip in yesterday's first over.

He continued to grind along with the help of a few streaky shots and Durham were convinced they had him caught behind on 151 and 217. Words were exchanged on the second occasion, when Benkenstein was the bowler, and Compton responded by pulling Graham Onions for the only six he hit from the 434 balls he faced.

Compton completed his double hundred by clobbering a Scott Borthwick full toss over mid-wicket for his 21st four and added only three more.

Onions was totally out of luck in finishing with two for 145 in 30 overs. While troubling Compton early in the day, he struck him a fierce blow on the helmet, but after two minutes of attention from the physio the batsman resumed with an edged four.

While he was never fluent, Compton didn't need to be as there was always someone scoring quickly at the other end.

Trego hammered 98 off 100 balls before Borthwick hurried one on to him just above ankle height to gain an lbw verdict and end a stand of 191.

Onions almost had Trego on 78, when a hook to long leg just eluded substitute Keaton Jennings, who was on the field for Blackwell, who bowled only nine overs in the innings.

Durham will hope Blackwell is fit to bat against his former team-mates today as they still trail by 428.

SCORECARD

Durham v Somerset
At Emirates Durham ICG.
Overnight: Somerset 383-4 (N R D Compton
149 no, M E Trescothick 144, JC Hildreth
54).
Somerset First Innings
N R Compton not out 254
J C Buttler c Mustard b Thorp 9
P D Trego lbw b Borthwick 98
L Gregory not out 16
Extras (b4 lb14 w4 nb9 pens 0) 31
Total 6 wkts dec (140 overs) 610
Fall: 1-4 2-253 3-340 4-354 5-387 6-578
Did Not Bat: G Hussain, S P Kirby, C M
Willoughby.
Score at 130 overs: 5-548
Bonus Pts: Durham 1 Somerset 5
Bowling: Onions 30-2-145-2. Thorp 25-7-
76-2. Brathwaite 23-1-100-0. Benkenstein
22-4-71-0. Blackwell 9-1-39-0. Stokes 17-
3-71-0. Borthwick 14-0-90-2.
Durham First Innings Close
M J Di Venuto c Compton b Gregory 86
W R Smith c Trego b Kirby 13
G J Muchall c Hildreth b Kirby 0
B A Stokes c Hildreth b Hussain 21
D M Benkenstein not out 26
P Mustard not out 19
Extras (b8 lb8 w1 pens 0) 17
Total 4 wkts (50 overs) 182
Fall: 1-71 2-77 3-123 4-139
To Bat: I D Blackwell, S G Borthwick, C D
Thorp, G Onions, R M R Brathwaite.
Bonus Pts: Durham 1 Somerset 5
Bowling: Willoughby 11-3-45-0. Kirby 14-
2-40-2. Hussain 10-3-26-1. Trego 8-0-33-
0. Gregory 4-0-15-1. Suppiah 3-1-7-0.