Durham v Yorkshire: Yorkshire suffer as Onions rips apart top order

Rain poured down from slate-grey skies and there were more puddles than punters inside the ground.

But the proprietor’s patience was rewarded when, at 4.10pm, the heavens permitted day two to begin.

In watery sunshine, 35.4 overs were possible as Yorkshire advanced from 57-3 to 177 all-out, although it did not appear that any ice creams were sold during that period, or indeed at any time during the day.

If life was heavy weather for the ice cream seller, who cut a forlorn figure in the shadow of Lumley Castle, it was no less challenging for the Yorkshire batsmen as they continued their reply to Durham’s first innings 237.

Having taken two of the first three wickets on the opening day, and run out the other batsman, Graham Onions ripped out the first three wickets yesterday to complete his 17th five-wicket haul in first-class cricket, finishing with 5-63 from 19 overs.

Bowling with pace and precision from the Lumley End, Onions proved too good for the Yorkshire top-order, who did not help themselves with several poor shots.

Only Joe Root got a particularly good ball, the England batsman losing his middle stump when one run short of a half-century.

And yet the day had begun encouragingly for the visiting side.

Root, 30 overnight, was quickly into his stride with a delightful clip to the mid-wicket boundary off Chris Rushworth.

In front of James Whitaker, the England selector, Root followed this by driving Onions to the cover boundary in the direction of the ice cream van (devoid of any customers, of course), and the opening batsman rotated the strike in sensible style.

Jonny Bairstow, who started his innings yesterday after Andrew Gale fell to the final delivery of the previous day, got off the mark with a cover-driven four off Onions, the ball making a sweet sound off his bat before speeding across the soggy turf.

The two England batsmen added 39 in 12 overs to lift the total to 96-3 and, although batting could never be described as comfortable at a ground beloved of seam bowlers, it looked as if a promising platform was being created, one from which Yorkshire might potentially have gained a first-innings lead.

But then Root was removed for the highest score of the innings, made from 81 balls with nine fours, and, in Onions’s next over, Bairstow unaccountably top-edged to deep square-leg, the wicketkeeper conveying the impression that he had perhaps played too soon at the ball, or possibly even toyed with the idea of withdrawing from the shot altogether.

Gary Ballance, having started the season well, followed a delivery from Onions that he feathered into the hands of wicketkeeper Phil Mustard, who completed one of the simpler catches of his career.

Adil Rashid began scratchily, splicing Onions just wide of Dale Benkenstein at mid-on and then being handed a reprieve when Mark Stoneman put him down at mid-wicket off Callum Thorp.

Rashid responded by playing one or two handsome whips through the leg-side before he perished lbw to Ben Stokes, a decision with which the leg-spinner appeared to disagree.

Tim Bresnan fell in tame and somewhat frenetic fashion when he slashed a delivery from Rushworth hard to first slip, where Paul Collingwood claimed a fine head-high catch.

Bresnan’s departure left Yorkshire 136-8 and in danger of being blown away for less than 150, but the damage was eased a touch by Liam Plunkett and Ryan Sidebottom, who added 25 in nine overs before Sidebottom departed in similar fashion to Bairstow – this time to the bowler/fielder combination of Stokes/Keaton Jennings in front of the manual scoreboard near the ice cream van.

Plunkett played one or two pleasant shots against his former club, including a fierce pull to the mid-wicket boundary off Rushworth, on his way to an unbeaten 25 from 41 balls.

But Yorkshire fell short of a batting point when Steve Patterson was last to go, bowled by Stokes, who returned 3-26.

There was no time to start the Durham second innings, which will begin with the home side holding a 60-run advantage after two days of action.

With the weather forecast better today, and significantly better for tomorrow, the odds would seem to be on a positive outcome.

Unless Yorkshire can make swift incursions into the Durham top-order, however, they will do well to come out on the right side of this match.

Having reduced Durham to 112-7 in their first innings, they still have reason to hope they could achieve something similar, which would give them a chance of chasing a potentially realistic target, but there is clearly plenty of work to be done.

Bangladesh improved on their first-Test showing against Zimbabwe by reaching 300-6 on day one of the second.

Having been bowled out for 134 in last week’s 333-run defeat and then been put in yesterday, improved application was required.

And despite some sloppy dismissals, it was on show as Tamim Iqbal fell one short of a half-century and both Shakib Al Hasan and Mushfiqur Rahim passed the landmark, Shakib top-scoring with 82.