THE two camels grazing by the approach road to the Riverside yesterday morning could hardly have felt less at home as a cold, showery day frustrated Durham's attempts to build on a solid start against Hampshire.

Shane Warne would have sympathised with the desert-loving creatures as he revealed a pair of lycra tights underneath his whites on a day when the visitors clearly preferred the warmth of the pavilion.

The hardy spectators who braved the conditions might have reflected that the Big Top across the road would have provided far more entertainment, although Jon Lewis and Simon Katich made the most of their time together at the crease.

Katich was on 50 out of Durham's 104 for one from 40 overs when the fourth break for rain proved terminal.

It was his seventh championship half-century of the season and left him 14 short of 1,000 runs in the competition.

Warne turned one excellent googly past Katich's outside edge, but generally found little help from the pitch and resorted to some huge variations of flight during his ten overs. At one point he bowled Lewis something akin to a donkey drop, followed by a bouncer.

The acting captain might have been run out on 31, but the shy at the stumps from mid-wicket was so wide it added two overthrows to Katich's score.

There were several other instances of shoddy fielding from a Hampshire side who looked as though they are already resigned to relegation, although Warne and Alan Mullally posed plenty of problems.

Mullally had Michael Gough lbw in the third over - the second time in three innings Gough has been out offering no stroke to a left-arm in-swing bowler following his dismissal by Kevin Dean at Derby.

Lewis was on 23 and Katich 17 when the first shower arrived after 19 overs, but the Australian was the more fluent thereafter, with the acting captain adding only 11 more in 19 overs.

He has yet to be out in three innings since taking over from Nick Speak and he said afterwards: "It's been a tough five days. I'm delighted to be captain, but the circumstances are not what I would have chosen.

"I think Nick will play again this season. He was very down on Sunday when the captaincy was taken away from him, but he has been communicating with us in a very positive way since then.

"I don't blame him for keeping his head down for a while, it's a difficult time for him. But I've spoken to him at length and he will always have my support.

"It was a shock to the whole side and everybody needs time to adjust, but I would be very happy for him to play.

"We had not been doing very well for a couple of weeks and the club wanted to do something to shake us up. It's not going to be a walk in the park, but nor is it a mountain to climb.

"I don't think I've got the worst cricket brain in the world and I enjoy thinking about the game.

"The lads give me a bit of a hard time when I'm captain. They think I'm a bit officious - perhaps it's the short man syndrome.

"I haven't looked ahead to next season.

"It's a long way away and we still have two big championship games to try to win this year.