WITH only 53 overs bowled on the first two days and more showers forecast, Durham are unlikely to be able to ram home the advantage they gained against Yorkshire yesterday.

Having won the toss for the eighth time in nine championship games, they put the visitors in on a pitch expected to offer assistance to the seamers and reduced them to 170 for nine.

Three wickets for Graham Onions and two for Steve Harmison as they featured together for the first time since August 2009 had Yorkshire rocking on 90 for six.

Adil Rashid then led a partial recovery by making 47, mostly off the back-up bowlers, as he shared a stand of 58 with Richard Pyrah.

Three wickets then went down for four runs, two of them to Paul Collingwood, before Ajmal Shahzad and Steve Patterson held out for the last ten overs.

Harmison, returning after a three-week absence with a back injury, took his wickets straight after a four-hour break for rain.

Obviously sensing life in the pitch, he looked very dangerous at that point. But, probably straining too hard, his direction became wayward as he mixed unplayable balls with unreachable ones.

Yorkshire had recovered from 28 for three to 66 for three at the break and Jonny Bairstow continued to look in a class of his own afterwards.

He lost doughty opener Joe Root to the third ball on the resumption, brilliantly caught low to his left by Scott Borthwick at third slip.

Harmison immediately posted a leg slip and a short leg for left-hander Gary Ballance and forced him to play on fifth ball.

With Ballance retained and Adam Lyth recalled after being left out of the last championship match, Yorkshire surprisingly dropped Joe Sayers.

They could have done with his adhesive qualities as hopes that Lyth had played himself back into form through a few sprightly Twenty20 knocks proved unfounded.

Durham’s slip catching was exemplary, starting with Michael Di Venuto pouching a low one off the day’s sixth ball as Onions sent back Lyth for a duck for the second time this season.

Collingwood replaced the injured Ben Stokes in the only change from the Durham side which beat Lancashire in the last championship match.

That meant there was no place for Liam Plunkett, and Callum Thorp initially justified his retention with an excellent spell of one for 16 in seven overs.

Anthony McGrath’s struggle for form continued as he made three before thrusting his pad half forward to a ball from Thorp which swung slightly and had him lbw.

Yorkshire captain Andrew Gale made nine before shaping to play Onions on the leg side, only for extra bounce and movement to find the edge on the way to Borthwick at third slip.

Bairstow was quickly into his stride, playing the shot of the morning when he clipped Onions to the mid-wicket boundary.

He had a stroke of luck on 20 when he shouldered arms to a ball from Onions which nipped back and passed narrowly over the middle stump.

Harmison came on first change and struggled for direction in the two overs he bowled before bad light, followed by rain, halted play at 12.18.

Opener Root had looked comfortable enough in reaching 27 but failed to add to his score when play resumed at 4.30.

Bairstow’s on-driving off Onions was of the highest class, particularly when he bisected short mid-wicket and mid-on for one of his eight fours.

The wicketkeeper had much more time to play his shots than his team-mates and it was a surprise when he departed for 38, shaping to drive wide of off stump and edging Onions to Collingwood at first slip. Thorp was less impressive in his second spell and Collingwood posed few problems for Rashid until he persuaded him to glove a legside catch to Phil Mustard.

Pyrah was then run out in a mix-up with Shahzad, Borthwick doing the fielding at backward point, and Collingwood bounced out former England team-mate Ryan Sidebottom, who edged to Mustard.

Onions returned with a hostile spell but couldn’t shift the last pair, taking some of the shine off the day’s work for Durham.

Given fair weather they will hope to build a big enough lead to go for their fourth successive innings win. But the game is unlikely to withstand further interruptions.

SCORECARD

Durham v Yorkshire
At Emirates Durham ICG. Durham Won Toss
Yorkshire First Innings Close
A Lyth c Di Venuto b Onions 0
J E Root c Borthwick b S J Harmison 27
A McGrath lbw b Thorp 3
A W Gale c Borthwick b Onions 9
J M Bairstow c Collingwood b Onions 38
G S Ballance b S J Harmison 0
A U Rashid c Mustard b Collingwood 47
R M Pyrah run out 18
A Shahzad not out 9
R J Sidebottom c Mustard b Collingwood 3
S A Patterson not out 7
Extras (b1 lb5 w1 nb2) 9
Total 9 wkts (53 overs) 170
Fall: 1-0 2-9 3-28 4-70 5-76 6-90 7-148 8-
149 9-152
Bowling: Onions 19-4-66-3. Thorp 11-3-38-
1. S J Harmison 9-3-22-2. Collingwood 6-
1-22-2. Blackwell 8-2-16-0.