With fairer conditions on day two at Emirates Durham Worcester were able to bat through the first session without losing a wicket, despite the best efforts of the Durham attack.
Vikram Solanki and James Cameron put on a 138 run stand before the latter became Ian Blackwell’s only victim of the innings when he was bowled on 74, having reached his fifty from 109 balls including ten boundaries.
Moeen Ali contributed 17 to the score but was caught behind off the final delivery of Dale Benkenstein’s only over.
At tea, Worcester, still determined to secure their place in first division cricket next year, were 255-3.
A cracking one handed catch from Benkenstein off the third ball after the break, giving Paul Collingwood his first wicket when Alex Kervezee was dismissed on 43.
The all rounder struck again in the same over reducing Worcester to 255-5 when Will Smith caught Matthew Pardoe (0) at gully.
The new ball helped Durham claim a sixth wicket in the 82nd over when Solanki was eventually dismissed on 124, reaching his milestone from 186 deliveries which included 16 fours and a six, after he was caught by Michael Di Venuto off the bowling of Callum Thorp.
Thorp claimed a second scalp in his next over when Gareth Andrew (9) was caught at first slip by Collingwood for 9. His replacement, Jones, was dismissed leg before first ball with Worcester falling to 286-8.
Graham Onions got in on the action in his third over with the new ball, when Scott was caught behind for just 1.
Thorp claimed the final scalp, and his fourth of the game, when Kemar Roach was caught behind on 2 with
Worcester losing their final five wickets for just five runs and posting a first innings total of 288.
Michael Di Venuto (14*) and Will Smith (29*) added 51 without loss by the end of play on day two.
Durhamccc.co.uk spoke to Graham Onions at the close, “It was a difficult last few sessions really but Thorpy produced the goods which is great for us, he’s had a really good season. It was a strange day really – we think we bowled well enough to have taken wickets in both the first and second session really but it just didn’t happen.
“A lot of balls went down to third man off outside edges, a few very close lbw decisions weren’t given, which is fine because a few decisions will eventually go your way and luck can change things a bit. We plugged away and eventually got our rewards, to get seven wickets for thirty odd runs is an exceptional effort really.
“We’re in a decent position in this game, we just need to keep on batting well in the first session and see where we go from there. We’re just trying to win this game, there’s a long way to go. We’ve got a good chance of winning this game, sometimes you do try and look at other results that could go our way but we just have to focus on what we’re doing here. “