Blackwell leads Durham recovery

Durham 288 v Warwickshire 7 for 0
Scorecard

Ian Blackwell rode his luck to make 86 in rescuing Durham from 112 for 5 to reach 288 after being put in by Warwickshire on the return to four-day cricket at Chester-le-Street. The visitors then reached 7 for 0 before bad light ended play with nine overs remaining.

Blackwell frequently played and missed, while Warwickshire thought he had gloved an attempted pull to recalled wicketkeeper Tim Ambrose with his score on five. There was a minimum of foot movement from the burly left-hander but he hit powerfully in collecting 10 fours off 147 balls.

While Warwickshire had lost Jonathan Trott and Chris Woakes to England Lions duty, Durham were without Liam Plunkett, allowing Callum Thorp to return after back trouble. That gave Durham four specialist seamers and a lengthy tail, but Thorp and Chris Rushworth played some handsome strokes in making 29 and 26, while Mitch Claydon contributed 18.

Durham's selection hinted that the pitch would favour the seamers, which was hardly surprising after Warwickshire's Imran Tahir became the first spinner to take eight wickets in an innings against them at Edgbaston a month ago. He had to settle for two today, his googly having Phil Mustard caught at slip for 35 after a sixth-wicket stand of 91, while Thorp became over confident and was stumped.

The ball swung in the morning, but there was also enough in the pitch to encourage the bowlers to bang a few in and Gordon Muchall, Ben Stokes and Rushworth all fell when pulling, while Neil Carter found extra bounce to have Mark Stoneman taken at second slip.

Michael Di Venuto pulled the first ball of the match in front of mid-wicket for four off Carter, who then swung one away to have the left-hander caught behind in the third over, although the Australian did not look happy with the decision.

Dale Benkenstein joined Muchall at 21 for 2 and while the senior man dug in his partner made 27 before his top-edged pull off Rikki Clarke was athletically held by Boyd Rankin. The Ireland international ran in from deep mid-wicket and looked amazed when, after diving forward, he clung on.

Benkenstein made 10 before he pushed forward to the perfect away swinger from Darren Maddy and edged to Ambrose.