RIVERSIDE

(Day two of four; Durham won toss)

Durham 224 (D.Benkenstein 67, M.Stoneman 59; C.Jordan 3-32, P.Collins 3-78) v Surrey 123-4 (M.Butcher 65, G.Onions 3-50)

Lunch

Only four overs were possible, in between rain interruptions, during which Surrey's bowlers applied renewed pressure. Jimmy Ormond looked more threatening than on the previous day and, while Dale Benkenstein serenely added five more runs to his overnight 58, Mark Stoneman was stuck on that score and repeatedly beaten.

The young opener appeared to get an edge against Ormond, which was put down by Jon Batty in front of first slip. Eventually Stoneman got his first single of the day, working a ball to the on-side, before the light rain returned.

Tea

The sun came out after lunch, but not for Durham, who lost their remaining seven wickets for 74 well before the tea interval. Stoneman, whose playing and missing had become chronic, finally edged one to give Jimmy Ormond a second good catch, but more surprising was the demise of Benkenstein: the outswing from Ormond was lavish, but it was a little surprising that the captain followed it, edging to the 'keeper.

There seemed to more movement for the bowlers than at any previous point, and Durham's long tail did little to confound expectation. After Phil Mustard had blazed four boundaries he fell trying his favourite square cut, being caught by a shrewdly placed Scott Newman at a square gully. Surrey's bowlers must have been fighting to get the ball, but no one used it better than Chris Jordan, whose speed and accuracy brought him three wickets for seven in one short spell, which included two strikes with off-stump yorkers.

Surrey's pre-tea batting saw them lose two wickets to Graham Onions - Jon Batty leg-before and then Newman, who fatally left a ball that seamed back in to hit the left-hander's off stump. By contrast, Steve Harmison was ineffective, bowling scarcely one ball an over that needed playing.

Close

Mark Ramprakash and Mark Butcher were soon putting a different complexion on things. If the former was slow and patient he also underlined his reputation as a master batsman through the ease with which he played defensive strokes to the demanding Onions. While Butcher was the more fluent, Ramprakash had made a patient, cool, nine in an hour when he made his first mistake, edging a good one from Neil Killeen. Sadly for Durham, the excitement that was evident in Phil Mustard's leap to the right was perhap also the clue to why the edge was spilled.

It was a bad miss, and Ramprakash began ominously to pick up speed alongside the fluent Butcher, who got to his fifty in 82 balls - pretty good going in the context of this match. But just when Durham were looking a little resigned, Ramprakah tried to force Onions from the back foot and was well held by Neil McKenzie at slip. The pair had added 99. Then, in the last over, McKenzie was featuring again, this time with a low catch to get Butcher for 65. The contest was once again in the balance.