DURHAM will have to win a battle with Phil Tufnell today after the former England spinner ruined Michael Gough's day in fading light at the Riverside yesterday.

Gough had claimed his first five-wicket haul, but what he desperately wants is a big score and he was cruelly denied at a time when five warning lights were already shining.

Tufnell had him caught off bat and pad for two and an over later the umpires took the belated decision to offer the light with Durham on 24 for one in reply to Middlesex 386 all out.

Owais Shah made 190 of those - the highest championship score at the Riverside, beating the 177 made by Michael Vaughan in 1998.

Darryl Cullinan hit 200 not out for South Africa in the same year and Shah seemed certain to pass that until he became a victim of Middlesex's sudden panic in search of the fifth batting point.

At 354 for three in the 118th over, they still had 12 overs to reach 400. But the last seven wickets went down for 32 runs in 11 overs with Gough enjoying a spell of five for 12 in 4.5 overs.

He finished with five for 66, beating his previous first-class best of four for 49 against Nottinghamshire on this ground two years ago.

Gough bowled unchanged in tandem with fellow off-spinner Nicky Phillips from the 88th over, and it was quite a revelation for Durham spinners to get through 52.2 overs in an innings at the Riverside so early in the season.

It was a reflection of how little there was in the pitch for the seamers, and it was by merely keeping things tight yesterday that Durham finally earned the unlikely reward of full bowling points.

The morning session was less than riveting as Shah and Stephen Fleming added 113 runs in 39 overs.

As Shah, 86 overnight, approached his seventh first-class century Durham posted two men deep behind square on the leg side and bowled short at him.

There was no way he was going to fall for the trap and he went to his hundred with a series of singles, the final one a scampered effort when he dropped a short ball from Stephen Harmison at his feet.

Attempts to run a similar sharp single almost had Fleming run out on 76 when Shah sent him back but Jon Lewis's throw to the non-striker's end was too high.

Fleming failed to connect with two swishes at Ian Hunter outside off stump as Durham succeeded in cutting off his favourite flicks to leg and he was nothing like as fluent as on the first day.

Nor were Shah's efforts quite so flawless. On 117 he was almost bowled making room to hit Phillips through the off side and three runs later he went down the track to hit Gough over long-on and got an inside edge just past his leg stump.

The third wicket pair had put on 248 in 78 overs when Fleming fell for 114, clipping Phillips to Martin Love at square leg.

As Shah was joined by another left-hander, Sir Len Hutton's grandson Ben, in a stand of 57 there seemed no doubt that Middlesex would cruise to 400 and Durham would do well to get more than one bowling point.

Shah was again lucky on 150 when he edged an attempted drive off Phillips over the vacant first slip area, but he smashed the next ball for a straight four and quickly followed up with three sixes, two of them off Gough.

There was clearly no need to panic but Hutton and Paul Weekes both got out going for big shots when they should have been trying to give Shah the strike.

Hutton was stumped by Andrew Pratt then Weekes skied a drive off Gough to deep extra cover, where Danny Law took an excellent catch running towards the boundary.

In Gough's next over, Shah's 460-minute innings ended when he swept the 330th ball he faced to Love at short fine leg.

Gough's variations of flight accounted for Jamie Hewitt and Phil Tufnell, while Angus Fraser was bowled by Phillips hitting across the line, and with 14 needed off ten balls David Nash was run out.

Durham reached 14 for no wicket in seven overs before tea but the resumption was delayed by rain and conditions were clearly not as favourable for batting when play did restart.