Durham's Ben Raine and Brydon Carse produced an unbroken century stand for the eighth wicket to thwart Northamptonshire on day one of their Specsavers County Championship Division Two meeting at Emirates Riverside.

Ben Sanderson put the home side on the back foot with a brilliant spell of 3-18 with the new ball, clean bowling the top three in the order. He was well backed by Matt Coles and Nathan Buck, who took two wickets apiece, reducing the home side to 81-7 during the afternoon session.

However, Raine and Carse led the fightback in the lower order, defying the visitors with their patient approach to reach their century partnership, with the former leading the way by notching his career-best of 75.

Durham earned their first batting bonus point by passing the 200-run mark, ending the day in a solid position considering their start to the contest.

Head coach James Franklin said: "It was a fantastic job by Ben Raine and Brydon Carse. We were 81-7 so to get through to 209-7 at the close of play is a terrific effort.

“There was brilliant resilience from those two. They pride themselves on contributing with the bat so they've definitely showed that today. It's a significant partnership of 128 and still going so hopefully they can kick on tomorrow morning.

“It was slow going, 209 is pretty slow no matter where you are playing. They had to play like that, they had to eek out every run they could and that eventuated into a sizeable partnership. If we can get up to 230 plus then we're definitely in the game here."

The hosts were inserted after an uncontested toss and Sanderson got to work immediately, removing Michael Jones from the third ball of the day as the opener left a straight delivery. Skipper Cameron Bancroft suffered the same fate as he misjudged the bounce of a Sanderson delivery, leaving a ball which clipped his off stump.

The seamer continued his onslaught, nipping one back between Alex Lees' bat and pad to dismiss him for only eight after his heroics of last week. Gareth Harte continued the procession, edging to Ricardo Vasconcelos at third slip, allowing Coles to enter the wicket column.

Resistance came from Jack Burnham and Liam Trevaskis, who were forced to grind for a partnership of 28. However, Buck produced a fine inswinging delivery to trap Burnham lbw for 12 to leave Durham five down before their 50. Trevaskis and Ned Eckersley stemmed the tide in a spell before and after lunch, but both players fell in the span of two deliveries.

Coles changed the angle of his approach to move around the wicket to Eckersley, and the tactic worked as the batsman edged behind to Adam Rossington for 26. The following delivery from Buck's over resulted in Trevaskis drilling the ball straight to Ben Curran at square leg, leaving Durham 81-7.

Raine and Carse had not lived up to their potential with the bat in the Championship this term, but provided the vital rearguard in the lower order to dig their side out of trouble. They were patient in their approach, building their partnership slowly. The 50 stand came from 142 deliveries, frustrating the visitors' attempt to take control of the contest.

Raine took the initiative in the partnership and he reached his first half-century for Durham from 120 deliveries, scoring five boundaries. The pair continued to defy Northants even against the second new ball, reaching their 100-run partnership from 268 balls as Carse knocked three runs into the off-side.

There was time before the close for Durham to record their first batting bonus point, while Raine to reached his career-best knock, passing his old highest score of 72 with a cut to the fence as the home side ended the day on a high note.