IT WAS always a fair bet that Lancashire's superiority in spin bowling would prove decisive in an intriguing tussle with Durham at Old Trafford.

But the modern infatuation with staying positive contributed to Durham's troubles as Jon Lewis and Paul Collingwood both got out trying to attack Gary Keedy, the only quality spinner in the match.

Durham crumbled from 86 for one to close on 123 for six, leading by 48, and it is difficult to see how they can extract themselves from a mire which is largely of their own making.

Even though contracted England man Chris Schofield continued to bowl poorly, the hosts still had the edge in spin on a pitch where a Saqlain, a Warne or a Muralitharan would have had things wrapped up well inside three days.

As it is, Durham are going into a fourth day for only the fourth time in ten matches, with the weather having played a part on the other three occasions.

Conceding a first innings deficit of 75 was too big a handicap for Durham on a ground where they were spun out for 83 in 1993 after topping 500 in their first innings.

They fared rather better this time, and until the tenth over after tea were still very much in the game. Then, as feared, the dismissal of Simon Katich pressed the panic button with Lewis and Collingwood surrendering shortly afterwards.

Katich looked unhappy with the decision when he was adjudged caught behind for 23 off the off-spin of Gary Yates.

The Australian had dominated a stand of 39 with Lewis, who after a bright start was stuck on 29 for 50 balls.

He was nicely under way again by the time Katich was out and with the key man's dismissal signalling the need for caution there was no need to go looking for runs.

But on 47 Lewis cut Keedy to point, then Collingwood miscued a drive to wide mid-off to bring in Gary Pratt at 97 for four.

The youngster played a couple of nice strokes in contributing 11 to a stand of 19 with Nick Speak before he pushed forward and edged Yates to the wicketkeeper.

Pratt's brother Andrew then shouldered arms to a ball from Yates which went straight on and hit his off stump.

When Lancashire resumed at 299 for four in the morning, 71 behind, any hope Durham had of a first innings lead vanished in the first eight overs.

Graham Lloyd had looked uncomfortable against spin the previous evening, and Durham were banking on Nicky Phillips and Michael Gough to take early wickets.

They bowled four moderate overs each at the start, which yielded 37 runs before Durham took the new ball and John Wood produced the best spell of the match.

He proved that a paceman prepared to bend his back could get something out of this pitch, twice beating Lloyd in his first over.

An 11-over spell produced well-deserved figures of three for 29 as he moved one away to trim Warren Hegg's off bail, had the left-handed Schofield caught at gully and Glen Chapple taken at second slip.

But the lack of support meant that Lancashire had advanced to 409 for eight at lunch, the other wicket coming when Yates tried to pull Neil Killeen and skied a catch to wicketkeeper Andrew Pratt.

The 130th over - the cut-off for bonus points - began with Lancashire needing nine runs for maximum batting points and Durham requiring one wicket.

Lloyd won the contest easily, clubbing Killeen's fifth ball for the straight four which brought up the 400 then clipping the next ball past square leg for another boundary.

It was the first time Durham had failed to take maximum bowling points since their visit to Old Trafford last August, when Lloyd made 86, the same score as he eventually fell for yesterday.

It was his first championship half-century of the season, and apart from his Thursday evening difficulties he also spent 15 overs in the 40s as he struggled to combat Wood.

It is rare for a batsman whose only real trademark is his rustic hitting to take 120 balls to reach 50, but he needed only 37 balls for his next 36 runs, hitting ten fours in all.

He perished trying to hit Phillips for a straight six, becoming the off-spinner's only victim from 36 overs when Katich ran round from long-on to take the catch.

Mike Smethurst clubbed and edged his way to 13 before Wood had him caught at second slip to finish with four for 81 as Lancashire were all out for 445.

Durham made a good start in their second innings with the openers putting on 47 before Gough tried to turn Keedy to leg off the back foot and the ball turned to have him caught at silly mid-off.

Lewis wiped off the arrears when he pulled a Yates long hop for four in the third over after tea, but subsequent events merely underlined that Durham have come to rely too heavily on Katich