A DAY of ecstasy ended in agony for Ben Stokes yesterday when he rushed from the Emirates Durham arena obviously in great pain.

He had failed to hang on to a fierce cut by Paul Horton, but the damaged finger proved to be dislocated rather than broken.

As that was being diagnosed the relief grew as Horton departed for 34 two overs from the close to leave Lancashire on 69 for three, still needing 204 to avoid an innings defeat.

When Stokes became the second batsman to clear the Don Robson Pavilion it seemed to confirm that he has taken Durham to a new level.

They were in a class of their own when they won the title by 47 points two years ago but they now look even stronger as they chase their third successive innings win with a maximum haul of 24 points.

In 2009 they thrashed their nearest challengers, Nottinghamshire, by an innings and 52 runs at Riverside and after being knocked off top spot yesterday Lancashire are heading for something similar.

In that Nottinghamshire match the opening stand of 314 fell one short of the Durham record for any wicket in the County Championship, but yesterday it was beaten by Stokes and Dale Benkenstein.

They extended their partnership from its overnight 185 to 331 and Stokes' stratospheric blows emulated the man whose England place he might take.

England are unlikely to give up for a while on Kevin Pietersen, but he looks the most vulnerable to the prodigiously talented all-rounder' demands for international recognition.

It was as a Nottinghamshire player in 2003 that Pietersen cleared the pavilion off the bowling of left-arm spinner Graeme Bridge in a Sunday League match.

Stokes did it twice, both off Steven Croft. After the second one he went for the same shot over mid-wicket and was bowled by the off-spinner for 185.

Although the pitch is only three strips in from the pavilion side of the square, it is still an enormous carry over 15 rows of tiered seating topped by the three-storey pavilion.

The overall partnership record of 334 by Stewart Hutton and Mike Roseberry against Oxford University in 1996 remained intact when Benkenstein departed for 137, edging a drive at Luke Procter to the wicketkeeper. The batsman's fourth century had taken his tally to 855 runs, with only Marcus Trescothick ahead of him.

Stokes hit just the two sixes in his 272-ball innings, a figure which was surpassed by Phil Mustard in a 44-ball half-century.

All three of the captain's were into the crowd behind square on the short side. He had made only three when he swivelled to pull Kyle Hogg, while the other two were off Tom Smith from a superbly-timed flick off his toes and a hook to fine leg.

With eight wickets down at tea, Mustard batted on but only 18 runs were added before he was last out for 61. He paddled a catch to short fine leg and his third dismissal of the season reduced his average to 122.

All out for 586, Durham had passed 580 for the third successive match and gained maximum batting points for the fifth time in eight games. They have also scored 14 championship centuries, four more than in the whole of last season and only four short of their 2009 record.

Benkenstein was the more fluent in the morning, adding 66 runs while Stokes struggled to regain the superb form which took him to his century off Monday’s last ball.

He was beaten several times when Lancashire took the new ball, but he reached 150 in the last over before the break. His third 50 took 90 balls, compared with 55 for his second.

He offered chances on 84, 106 and 167, all to Horton at slip, but such was the entertainment value of Stokes' career-best knock - beating the 161 he made at Canterbury last year - that even the hospitality boxes emptied to give him a prolonged standing ovation.

Benkenstein, on 67 overnight, took the attack to Lancashire from the outset yesterday in his flawless knock.

He drove Tom Smith wide of mid-on for four and glanced the next ball to the fine leg boundary to give Durham the lead.

Then when Smith took the new ball Benkenstein pulled him for four before a misfield by Mark Chilton at cover allowed him to take two runs to reach his century off 169 balls.

There were brisk contributions from Ian Blackwell and Callum Thorp as Durham added 307 runs in 69 overs before leaving themselves with 25 overs to bowl.

In the seventh Graham Onions skidded one through to have Stephen Moore lbw and in the 13th Thorp's in-swinger pinned Keith Brown in front.

Onions looked unlucky not to have Horton adjudged lbw just before the batsman went for a cut and got a bottom edge to Mustard.

For the second successive match Durham have seven wickets to take on the final day and will fancy their chances of going 17 points clear of Lancashire.

SCORECARD

Durham v Lancashire
At Emirates Durham ICG.
Overnight: Lancashire 313 (P J Horton 94).
Durham 279-3 (B A Stokes 100no, D M
Benkenstein 67 no, G J Muchall 54).

Durham First Innings
B A Stokes b Croft 185
D M Benkenstein c Cross b Procter 137
I D Blackwell b Hogg 21
P Mustard c Hogg b Keedy 61
S G Borthwick c Horton b Chapple 6
C D Thorp c Cross b Smith 22
M E Claydon b Keedy 18
G Onions not out 1
Extras (b9 lb23 w4 nb9) 45
Total (140 overs) 586
Fall: 1-6 2-90 3-94 4-425 5-461 6-476 7-
485 8-558 9-585
Score at 130 overs: 7-542
Bowling: Chapple 28-7-97-2. Hogg 28-7-
88-1. Smith 26-2-112-2. Procter 22-0-101-
2. Keedy 28-2-101-2. Croft 8-0-55-1.

Lancashire Second Innings Close
P J Horton c Mustard b Onions 34
S C Moore lbw b Onions 10
K R Brown lbw b Thorp 6
M J Chilton not out 15
G Keedy not out 0
Extras (nb4 pens 0) 4
Total 3 wkts (25 overs) 69
Fall: 1-19 2-30 3-69
To Bat: S J Croft, T C Smith, G D Cross, L
A Procter, K W Hogg, G Chapple.
Bonus Pts: Durham 8 Lancashire 5
Bowling: Onions 8-3-21-2. Thorp 8-2-24-1.
Claydon 5-1-14-0. Blackwell 4-1-10-0.