Durham v Worcestershire: Day Two lunch
DURHAM'S batsmen were given a torrid time by Worcestershire on day two of their County Championship clash as three wickets fell for as many runs this morning.
Having slumped to 1-3 on Tuesday evening, Durham had recovered to reach 40-3 with Kyle Coetzer and Dale Benkenstein managing to avert a complete catastrophe before the close.
But neither was able to build on that good work as Kabir Ali picked up another two wickets and Durham lost three their three remaining specialist batsmen in as many overs.
Dale Benkenstein was the first to go, caught behind by Josh Knappett as Ali managed to find some decent late swing in the unusually humid conditions at Chester-le-Street.
That brought the in-form Ian Blackwell to the middle, but the former Somerset man was unable to save Durham this time, bowled by Matt Mason as he tried to turn a straight delivery to the leg-side.
Things got even worse for the league leaders moments later when Coetzer, who had been feeling his way into the game all morning, tried to relieve the pressure with a cover drive, found fresh air and walked as his off-stump came crashing back down to the turf following another swinging Ali delivery.
At 59-6 Durham needed someone to apply emergency surgery to their innings and, having grabbed attention with the ball with figures of 6-63 on Tuesday, Liam Plunkett rode out the storm with wicketkeeper Phil Mustard.
Plunkett's batting has been an useful weapon at the top of the tail this season and he had the confidence to outscore the naturally attacking Mustard
Their partnership of 46 was an important one and carried Durham beyond the 100 mark as they closed the gap on Worcestershire's modest first innings's total of 193.
It was solid recovery work continued by Callum Thorp, whose straight drives are always a surprisingly attractive addition to the lower order. He moved quickly on to 15 with Mustard remaining patient on 17 as Durham scrambled to 132-7 at lunch.
