In the hour and 45 minutes of play that was possible at the Riverside yesterday, Durham strengthened their hand by adding to 73 the first innings lead of 49 they established when Surrey were polished off for 183 in just seven overs courtesy of Liam Plunkett and Ottis Gibson, who finished with figures of 4-50.

Morning showers delayed the start, but upon the resumption Matt Nicholson collected two off-side boundaries off the first full over of the day, which was bowled by Steve Harmison. In the fourth over Plunkett struck twice in as many deliveries when Nicholson edged a short ball to slip and Jimmy Ormond had his middle stump sent cartwheeling. A line was drawn under the Brown Caps' first innings when Harbhajan Singh dug out a yorker from Gibson and was acrobatically caught behind by Phil Mustard. For Surrey, it was the fourth time this summer they had been bowled out for less than two hundred, although it was the first occasion since the end of May.

The hosts opened their second dig by taking 24 runs off Nicholson's first four overs. Mark Stoneman hit one particularly eye-catching off drive off the Australian, while Michael Di Venuto, who needed seven runs to post another 1,000-run season, chose to capitalise when Nicholson erred in length. By the time the rain had set in again at lunch Di Venuto had collected an unbeaten 44 off 58 balls, including seven boundaries, while Stoneman had 26.

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