So overwhelming a victory against proud Yorkshire is a bit of a curiosity, given the failings of so many of Durham's batsmen - especially the home-grown ones - and the unevenness of their bowling. But, if the run-making is left almost entirely to Michael Di Venuto, from Australia, and the Rhodesian-born Dale Benkenstein, the wickets at least are being gathered in by Graham Onions, who comes from Gateshead.

It was Onions who struck the key blows in a spell that was uniquely hostile even by his own, rapidly growing, standards. Yorkshire made a dreadful start in their bid to reach an unlikely target of 418. Adam Lyth, Anthony McGrath and Jacques Rudolph were all sent back for ducks as Onions, bowling with great pace to a full length, and moving the ball late, had all his victims well and truly bemused before they succumbed. At tea he had three wickets for seven.

A fourth batsman, Andrew Gale, capitulated on the brink of tea to a headstrong cut at Stephen Harmison - who, however, once again bowled only the odd demanding ball, though he did come back strongly at the end to finish with three wickets.

Yorkshire, 31 for four at the break, made a little progress when the relief bowlers came on - only for their middle order to get out to comparatively innocuous-looking balls from Ben Harmison and Mark Davies.

Once again, Tim Bresnan hung around and hit the ball robustly. Top score, with 32, may not have been cause for a big celebration, but he will surely have been pleased with his all-round match, embracing penetrative swing bowling as well as his runs. But the inevitability of Yorkshire's defeat was so clear that Durham's support bowlers - and, finally, the returning Stephen Harmison - were almost bound to share around the final wickets. Sadly for Harmison, his final spell was unseen by James Whittaker, the England selector, who had by then departed.

Earlier, Durham's intended quick progress towards a declaration turned into a regrouping strategy, after failures for Karl Coetzer at No3 and Neil McKenzie at No4: their respective averages are now 8.0 and 7.5. Not much better are Mark Stoneman, Phil Mustard and Ben Harmison, who between them have only two scores above 30.

By contrast, Benkenstein, whose authoritative 86 turned the tables after Durham started to slip, is averaging 81 and Di Venuto, who comfortably kept him company - even with a bruised finger - is averaging 69.

Scoreboard

Durham: First Innings 406 (M J Di Venuto 184, P J Wiseman 60; T T Bresnan 4 for 73)
Second Innings (overnight 16-0)
M D Stoneman lbw b Hoggard 19
B W Harmison lbw b Bresnan 6
K J Coetzer c McGrath b Bresnan 14
N D McKenzie c Sayers b Hoggard 4
*D M Benkenstein not out 86
P Mustard lbw b Kruis 1
P J Wiseman lbw b Kruis 12
M J Di Venuto not out 45
Extras (b 2, lb 8, w 2, nb 6) 18
Total (6 wkts dec, 55 overs) 205
Fall of wickets: 1-18, 2-40, 3-44, 4-63, 5-84, 6-112.
Bowling: Bresnan 14-3-58-2; Gough 6-0-21-0; Hoggard 14-4-27-2; Kruis 10-1-51-2; McGrath 6-0-22-0; Rashid 4-0-14-0; Rudolph 1-0-2-0.

Yorkshire: First Innings 194 (A U Rashid 70; G Onions 5 for 75)
Second Innings
J J Sayers c Coetzer b B W Harmison 22
A Lyth lbw b Onions 0
A McGrath lbw b Onions 0
J A Rudolph c Mustard b Onions 0
A W Gale c Mustard b S J Harmison 19
G L Brophy b Davies 9
A U Rashid b B W Harmison 4
T T Bresnan not out 32
*D Gough b Davies 18
M J Hoggard c sub b S J Harmison 4
G J Kruis b S J Harmison 2
Extras (b 1, lb 10, w 1) 12
Total (45 overs) 122

Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-10, 3-10, 4-31, 5-54, 6-60, 7-60, 8-101, 9-114.
Bowling: S J Harmison 17-6-39-3; Onions 12-3-23-3; Davies 10-3-24-2; B W Harmison 6-0-25-2.
Umpires: N L Bainton and M J Harris.