THIS is the time of year when you can usually tell which players are battling for their futures and no-one showed greater fight than Gavin Hamilton at Riverside yesterday.

It was just as well for Durham as he top scored with a gritty 41 then joyously took two wickets in his first over after debut boy Shaun Tait had bowled 14 no-balls in four overs.

Given his opportunity by Paul Collingwood's injury, Hamilton has five games to prove he is worthy of an extension of his one-year contract with Durham. Otherwise his career will be over just before his 30th birthday.

He shored up another dismal Durham batting display against modest Somerset bowling, which was put into context by a ninth wicket stand of 61 between Liam Plunkett and Neil Killeen.

Durham seemed unlikely to add to the one batting point they have taken from their last three home games when the pair came together at 164 for eight, but finally totalled 231, to which Somerset replied with 127 for four.

In what could be the final innings of his brief stay, Australia captain Ricky Ponting is unbeaten on 36 after surviving an edge to first slip off Tait's 12th no-ball with his score on 21.

Just when they must have thought their luck had hit rock bottom, that was the point when Hamilton came on. Peter Bowler cut his first ball for four and the next skidded through to hit his leg stump.

Three balls later Hamilton moved one in to have Matthew Wood lbw and had doubled his tally of championship wickets for the last three seasons.

Plunkett confirmed his rise towards all-rounder status with an innings of 38, while Killeen tends to reserve his best batting displays for clashes with Somerset. He made his best score of 48 against them here in 1995 and contributed 35 to the winning total of 453 for nine at Taunton in May.

He had a top score of 16 since then, but was off the mark by pulling Richard Johnson for four and there was a hint of class about a pick-up wide of mid-on which followed. He was unbeaten on 35 when Tait, the last man, fell for a duck.

After the first two days were swamped out, Jon Lewis chose to bat but probably wished he hadn't after becoming the first of Simon Francis's five victims in the second over.

He played back to ball which hit off stump halfway up, but few others could point to anything in the pitch for their dismissals.

After all the rain there was inevitable assistance when the bowlers hit the spot, but while Johnson often passed the bat he also bowled a lot of long hops at little more than medium pace.

He has only recently returned from an ankle injury and despite taking seven for 69 in Durham's first innings at Taunton he came into this match with only 16 championship wickets this season.

Gordon Muchall profited from Johnson's decline with seven fours in his 40 and put on 52 with Kyle Coetzer after they came together at 34 for three.

Both fell in the second over of Francis's second spell, however. Muchall got an inside edge to a good ball to be caught low down by wicketkeeper Rob Turner then Coetzer offered a straight front leg to a ball which held up on the pitch and his checked drive resulted in a lobbed catch to mid-off.

As Marcus North had edged to Turner when driving wide of off stump, Francis had the flattering figures of four for 34 at lunch.

His first nine balls after the break then went for 19 runs as Hamilton and Andrew Pratt punished his lack of control, but after making 16 Pratt miscued Aaron Laraman's medium pace to cover point, where John Francis took a good catch.

Hamilton must have wondered where he could find a partner to match his will to survive as Graeme Bridge drove loosely at Johnson to give Turner the third of his five catches.

But perhaps Hamilton under-estimated Plunkett, who will surely be a No 7 in years to come, as he drove to cover to become a victim of the Francis brothers.

Hamilton had hit five fours in his 87-ball stay.

Plunkett matched that, mainly from cuts, before he pushed forward in the first over after tea and edged Gareth Andrew to Turner. Only four balls had elapsed since the interval, but the 12th man came on with the isotonic drinks.

Tait was trying to withdraw his bat when he gloved a catch to Turner, then there were murmurings from the crowd as, rather like Andy Blignaut on his championship debut, he bowled four no-balls in his first over.

While in Blignaut's case it looked like rustiness, in Tait's it was more likely to be over-enthusiasm as his pace was immediately obvious.

Two more no-balls followed in his next over but he began his third with a big shout for lbw against left-hander John Francis.

Then came another no-ball, followed by four leg byes from an attempted yorker and extras read 20 in the fifth over.

Tait was replaced after three overs by Killeen, who immediately had Francis lbw offering no stroke and rapped Ponting on the gloves two balls later, the ball lobbing into space at short leg.

Tait returned for one over at the Lumley End, only to bowl five more no-balls and after Ponting survived on 21 his next scoring stroke was an audacious front-foot six whipped from off stump over mid-wicket off Killeen.

After Hamilton's two wickets Mike Burns survived a sharp low chance to Muchall at third slip off Killeen before being bowled when making room to cut Graeme Bridge.

Read more about Durham County Cricket Club here.