FOR the second successive day Durham followed a profitable morning with a disappointing afternoon as they reached 204 for five at tea, leading by 69 runs.

The one man out in the morning was nightwatchman Mark Davies, who fell for six when he was caught behind off Matthew Hoggard in the day’s third over.

Leg-spinner Adil Rashid was expected to be the dangerman and it was no surprise to see him open up with Hoggard. But the burden of expectation proved too much for the England aspirant as he bowled too short.

Michael Di Venuto and Kyle Coetzer applied themselves to the task of digging Durham out of a hole with great tenacity. After letting Yorkshire off the hook yesterday to concede a first innings deficit of 135, they resumed on 24 for one and if the first ball of the day tends to set the tone it proved an ill omen for Yorkshire.

Hoggard sent it down short and wide of off stump and Di Venuto thumped it to the cover boundary for one of the five fours in his 87-ball half-century.

The Tasmanian is making a habit of following first innings failures with big scores, with all three of his championship centuries this season coming in the second innings.

Coetzer, needing a score to have any chance of retaining his place, left anything he didn’t need to play at and generally looked very solid.

With the outfield looking extra lush following a good deal of overnight rain, several shots which were worthy of fours failed to reach the boundary.

Coetzer found it three times in reaching 33 at lunch, when Di Venuto was on 61 and Durham were only ten behind.

But if Yorkshire’s bowling was a mixed bag in the morning, they improved greatly after the interval. The second wicket pair survived testing spells from Ajmal Shahzad and Rana Naved, but when Hoggard returned Coetzer pushed forward to his second ball and had his off stump knocked back.

The Scot had contributed 38 to a stand of 109 in 38 overs and in the next over Di Venuto departed for 84 when he played back and inside-edged Tim Bresnan down into his middle stump.

Hoggard continued to run in full of vigour and had Gordon Muchall lbw on the front foot for 15 to make it 178 for five. But Ian Blackwell provided solid support for the redoubtable Dale Benkenstein as they added 26 in 13 overs to tea.