STEVE Harmison was at Headingley yesterday and must have felt some sympathy for fellow paceman Tino Best.

While Durham contemplate a gentle return to action for Harmison against Durham University next week, he would not have relished bowling on Headingley’s docile strip.

Best has discovered it’s a far cry from Barbados, and while he’s trying to impress, he endured more frustration during the half day’s play yesterday, in which Durham lost only one wicket.

On 215 for four they will go into the final day still 395 behind, but given the nature of the weather and the pitch a draw looks certain.

It would suit Durham to pick up a few batting points on another truncated day without having to call on Liam Plunkett or Dale Benkenstein.

They are the latest additions to the casualty list, which now numbers seven if Harmison is still included.

Plunkett has a sore side and Benkenstein, who scored a valiant 64 without the aid of a runner yesterday, is struggling with the knee injury he picked up when running out Anthony McGrath.

Both are likely to be rested for the two 40-over league games away to Kent and Leicestershire on Sunday and Monday. It would be no surprise if Durham recall Luke Evans from his loan at Northamptonshire, who left him out of their current game.

Callum Thorp was due to see a back specialist last night, while Mitch Claydon will be out for a further two or three weeks with his abdominal strain.

There was a brief period after lunch when Best looked mildly threatening as opposed to innocuous. He swung one sharply into Michael Di Venuto, who was rapped on the pads when shouldering arms on 95. It could only have been because the ball was going over the top that he survived the lbw appeal.

Two overs later he pulled Best for his 14th four then pushed a back-foot shot into the covers to complete his 13th first-class century for Durham off 161 balls.

That took him past Jon Lewis and left him only one behind Paul Collingwood and John Morris. The one man ahead of them, Benkenstein, fell for 64 when he was smartly stumped by Jonny Bairstow off a very good ball from David Wainwright.

The left-arm spinner bowled poorly in the morning, but once the light started to fade Yorkshire had no option but to turn again to their spinners.

Not that the seamers had posed much threat, other than when Oliver Hannon-Dalby produced two beauties in the morning to beat both batsmen.

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

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

Steve Patterson’s opening over after the break cost 11 runs as Benkenstein became the dominant partner. The same pair had dug Durham out of a hole when they were four for two when following on against Essex two weeks ago, putting on 212. This time their stand was worth 145 when Benkenstein departed.

As in both innings in the last match against Hampshire, Ian Blackwell hit the first ball he faced for four, driving Wainwright to the cover boundary. He was on 12 when the rain arrived.

As showers had always been forecast for the last two days made Yorkshire’s tactics all the more baffling in batting on for 40 minutes after tea on the second day.

Di Venuto was more fluent than either of the Yorkshire century-makers, who both took more than 200 balls to reach the landmark.

Scoreboard

Yorkshire v Durham At Headingley Carnegie

Overnight: Yorkshire 610-6 dec (J A Rudolph 228 no, A McGrath 105, ALyth 85, J J Sayers 63). Durham 54-3.

Durham First Innings Close

M J Di Venuto not out ........................108

D M Benkenstein st Bairstow b Wainwright .. . 64

I D Blackwell not out .........................12

Extras (b5 lb10 pens 0) .......15

Total 4 wkts (63.1 overs) ....215

Fall: 1-17 2-49 3-49 4-194

To Bat: B A Stokes, P Mustard, L E Plunkett, S G Borthwick, C Rushworth.

Bonus Pts: Yorkshire 5 Durham 1

Bowling: Best 14-0-51-0. Hannon-Dalby 12-3-40-0. Patterson 12-4-33-1. A U Rashid 14-3-39-2. Wainwright 10.1-1-34- 1. Sayers 1-0-3-0.