The clash of the top two promised to test Lancashire’s resolve against a team who have been obliged to eke out victories on flat pitches.
Three of the leaders’ five wins have come at Liverpool and, despite their 590 at Hove, the average total of the side batting first in their previous six matches has been 299, compared with 474 for Durham. Nor have the pitches on which Durham have played deteriorated.
In six of their seven games the final innings has produced more than 300 runs, the exception being their 102 for two to beat Warwickshire at home.
There was a tinge of green in Sunday’s strip, so Durham put Lancashire in and for 30 minutes they threatened to wreak havoc.
Then the sun came out, the batsmen dug in and the seamers erred. Graham Onions and Callum Thorp took a wicket each in reducing Lancashire to nine for two, but dropped too short too often thereafter.
Watched by England selector James Whitaker, Onions did not enhance his chances of being called up for the second Test in place of James Anderson. Onions came under fire from Glen Chapple when the new ball was taken on 241 for seven.
Nine overs later it was 310 for seven, but Mitch Claydon had Chapple caught at third man for 46 and the last three wickets went down for one run.
Paul Horton’s 94 revived Lancashire, but when he was fourth out with the total on 158 the benefits of diligent application began to be dissipated, with Gareth Cross and Tom Smith both guilty of over-ambition against the spinners.
Although he gave no clear chance, Horton led something of a charmed life.
An edge on one brushed Gordon Muchall’s fingertips at first slip, a leading edge on 19 just evaded cover and a skied hook on 65 fell into space.
He showed good judgement of what to leave, however, and remained alert to the chance to dispatch poor balls, hitting 15 fours.
Three came in one over from Ben Stokes – a pull, a square drive and an on-drive – to take Horton into the 90s, only for Stokes to nip one back to hit the off stump and end a stand of 72 with Steve Croft.
Both batsmen had set out to leave whatever they didn’t need to play at in the post-lunch spell from Onions and Thorp. Durham’s hopes of reuniting Onions and Steve Harmison for the first time since August, 2009 were dashed by the back injury which afflicted Harmison at Edgbaston.
It seemed unlikely to matter, however, when Stephen Moore fell to the 12th ball of the day, guiding a head-high catch to third slip, then Keith Brown shaped to drive Onions and edged to Michael Di Venuto at second slip.
The Tasmanian also held a simple catch to end Mark Chilton’s 23-over vigil for 12 and a brilliant one to get rid of Croft and give Ian Blackwell the first of his three wickets.
