DURHAM had neither luck nor spirit on the second morning against Worcestershire as they failed to take a wicket.

Knowing that if they reached 300 they would be safe from relegation, the visitors reached 118 for one at lunch with Vikram Solanki on 62 and the left-handed James Cameron on 49.

Durham kept four slips and two gullies for much of the morning and often beat the bat, but the breakthrough just wouldn’t come.

With Shivnarine Chanderpaul continuing to grind along at the Rose Bowl, reaching 159 out of Warwickshire’s score of 383 for six, the championship pennant was edging ever closer to Edgbaston.