THERE was no gloating in the gloaming from Yorkshire members this morning as Michael Di Venuto and Dale Benkenstein took Durham to 156 for three at lunch.

After 50 minutes the umpires conferred about the light, prompting Yorkshire to turn to the spinners. Not that they should have needed any prompting as Adil Rashid and David Wainwright have held the key to this match since Andrew Gale won the toss. The pitch is too slow for Tino Best to be much of a threat, although he did beat Benkenstein when recalled just before the break.

Oliver Hannon-Dalby was the pick of the seamers after a shaky start. He produced two beauties to beat both batsmen, although having beaten Benkenstein on 11 with the first ball of an over he wasted the next five balls.

Hannon-Dalby had a good shout for lbw against Di Venuto on 38, but when Rashid came on the left-hander drove him for a straight four to reach 50 off 82 balls.

Di Venuto twice pulled the disappointing Wainwright for four in one over and had progressed from his overnight 30 to 86 at lunch, when Benkenstein was on 44.

The light had improved, but so had Durham’s hopes of avoiding defeat, even though they still trailed by 454.