Worcestershire’s Josh Tongue claimed a five-wicket haul to help bowl Durham out for 246 on the opening day of their County Championship clash at the Riverside Ground.

Tongue was on the mark for the visitors, tearing through the Durham middle and lower order to finish with figures of five for 39 in his second appearance of the campaign.

Alex Lees continued his fine form with the bat for the hosts, falling just short of a deserved century with an innings of 99.

Through Lees’ exploits and an unbeaten 38 from Brydon Carse, Durham worked their way to a competitive total. Worcestershire’s openers then faced a tough three-over spell before bad light brought a premature end to the day, with the visitors six without loss.

Worcestershire’s bowlers soon found their rhythm after inserting the home side. Durham found life tricky against the new ball and Joe Leach, who was rewarded for a fine opening spell when he pinned Will Young lbw for five with an inswinger.

Charlie Morris then maintained the pressure for the visitors and removed Scott Borthwick, who edged to Tom Fell at third slip.

Lees and David Bedingham (24) stemmed the tide and saw the home side through to the lunch interval without further damage at 80 for two. The two players put on fifty for the third wicket, but a loose Bedingham drive allowed Morris to break the stand.

Lees was the only batsman that seemed comfortable and he manoeuvred his way to his third fifty of the season from 145 balls.

Tongue turned the day in favour of the visitors as he ended a promising partnership between Lees and Jack Burnham, removing the latter lbw for 23 before using a well-aimed bouncer to force Ned Eckersley to play-on to his stumps.

Lees accelerated the rate of his innings amid the clatter of wickets at the opposite end. He surged his way into the nineties with a fine array of strokes but was agonisingly caught behind on 99 from a wide ball from Leach on the stroke of tea.

Carse and Mark Wood added valuable runs for the ninth wicket to take Durham past the 200-run mark and their first batting point.

However, Tongue wrapped up the innings with two excellent deliveries to skittle Wood and Chris Rushworth to claim his first five-wicket haul of the term.

Daryl Mitchell (one not out) and Jake Libby (five not out) then took to the crease for Worcestershire, seeing them through to the close without any dramas.