PATIENCE was the watchword for Durham at Riverside yesterday as their own willingness to wait for batting talent to bloom was rewarded by a stoical stand between Kyle Coetzer and Ben Harmison.

In contrast to his fluent strokeplay when he first came into the team this season, Coetzer ground out an invaluable maiden championship century, while Harmison was on 84 - also a championship-best - when bad light ended play.

A halt was called with 30 minutes left just after Coetzer fell for 142 with Durham 139 ahead of Warwickshire on 378 for six. The Scot had batted for 451 minutes when he pushed forward and edged to slip, giving the visiting captain his third wicket in an attack in which he lacked support.

After preaching patience since Durham's Twenty20 hangover saw them embark on a helter-skelter ride towards oblivion, it was the stuff of dreams for the management as the two academy products put on 182 in 61 overs for the sixth wicket.

The state of the game, and the lack of fire in both the pitch and the attack, allowed them to indulge in the sort of crease occupation which will do them a power of good.

There occasionally seemed to be a danger of Coetzer becoming strokeless, particularly after he was dropped on 58 and again as he fidgeted nervously through the 90s.

But then he would unfurl a glorious shot, and much the same could be said of Harmison as they batted through the afternoon session to add 112 in 35 overs.

Durham looked like surviving the morning without losing a wicket, but then Dale Benkenstein surrendered when well set and Phil Mustard lasted only five balls.

While coaxing Coetzer into maintaining his restraint, the captain made 45 of the 79 they added to the overnight 110 for three before departing in the day's 34th over. He had played the back-foot whip off his hip to good effect but when he tried something similar to Maddy's first ball he hit it straight to mid-wicket.

Mustard relishes the chance to open in one-day cricket and appeared restless after his long wait, driving over the top of a full-length ball from Lee Daggett which splattered his stumps.

At 196 for five Durham were still 43 behind and there was a danger of the morning's graft being undone. But fortune smiled on the sixth-wicket duo, while Warwickshire let themselves down.

James Anyon and Naqaash Tahir did little to justify Maddy's decision to open up with them in the morning, and the batsmen were well set when Heath Streak came on in defiance of his back problem.

On 49 Coetzer drove him just short of the fielder at extra cover, then hit a full toss from left-arm spinner Paul Harris wide of mid-on for his tenth four to reach his third championship 50 off 129 balls.

Coetzer had started to head for the pavilion when, on 58, he offered Harris a return catch which the bowler was about to throw up in celebration when the ball fell from his grasp.

The unbeaten 153 he made against Durham University has kept the Scot well up in the first-class averages, but memories of getting out for 91 against Yorkshire may have begun to plague him as he approached that figure.

A leading edge off Streak fell into space over mid-on, then on 87 he edged Naqaash between first and second slip, neither of whom got a hand on the ball.

An inside edge for four off the same bowler followed, and on 98 he pulled Anyon to mid-wicket, where Ian Westwood dived to his left and failed to hang on.

Coetzer's 17th four brought up his 242-ball century when he turned a short ball from Naqaash to fine leg.

With runs coming at fewer than three an over, Durham were not going to gain maximum batting points. But Harmison suddenly swept Harris for three fours in an over, passing 50 off 126 balls. It was his second successive half-century after mustering 16 in his previous six innings.

He later hit successive balls from off-spinner Alex Loudon for four and a pulled six, but the acceleration was not sustained and Durham were 29 short of their 400 target at the 130-over cut-off. They are now ahead of Warwickshire in the table as the visitors gained only one bowling point.