DURHAM were totally out of luck in the afternoon sun at the Oval until Chris Rushworth struck twice just before tea.
He removed both the left-handed duo of Arun Harinath and Steve Davies after they had taken their stand to 135 and Surrey were 242 for four at the interval.
Davies, who made 87 off only 100 balls, played and missed several times and when Graham Onions did find the edge of his bat the ball fell just short of Paul Collingwood at first slip.
Harinath added only one run in the first half hour after lunch, while Davies went for his shots, twice lofting Ryan Pringle to the long-on boundary.
Ben Stokes bent his back in a lively second spell and was brought back for a go at Jason Roy when Davies, aiming to leg, edged to gully.
Keaton Jennings moved to his right to hold a good catch and in Rushworth's next over Harinath, on 96, tried to pull a ball which wasn't short enough and lobbed a catch to mid-off.
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