After winning the toss and electing to field first, Yorkshire’s Steve Patterson made the first breakthrough of the day early on, reducing Durham to 11-1 after Mark Stoneman was caught behind for 1.
Ajmal Shahzad struck twice in three balls, Gordon Muchall trapped lbw on 12 and Dale Benkenstein bowled without scoring, leaving Durham 32-3.
Durham were 53-4 after Tim Bresnan picked up his only scalp of the innings when Blackwell was caught in the slips on 5. Ben Stokes failed to score after he was given out lbw to Shahzad after six balls. Phil Mustard and Di Venuto steadied the ship, putting on a hundred partnership, before the captain was caught behind off Richard Pyrah on 53.
The 7th, 8th and 9th wickets fell with just 11 runs added to the total, Shahzad bowling Plunkett (0) and Claydon (4) and Pyrah picking up the wicket of Chris Rushworth (0), who gave Bairstow his second catch in the slips. Ajmal Shahzad picked up 5-44 for Yorkshire from his 16 overs.
Stephen Harmison stayed around long enough for Durham to pick up their only batting point and to see Di Venuto score his reach his century, from 156 deliveries, including 14 boundaries.
An early tea was taken once Durham were all out having posted 113, Harmison the last man to be dismissed, when he was run out on 4.
There were 38 overs of the day’s play remaining as the Yorkshire innings began and by the third over Durham had picked up their first wicket – Adam Lyth (6) caught at gully by Liam Plunkett off the first delivery of Mitchell Claydon’s second over.
With Tim Bresnan set to link up with England on Tuesday (day two), he was moved up the order, coming at three. Claydon picked up his second wicket in his fourth over, bowled Jacques Rudolph for 7, leaving Yorkshire 24-2 after 7.3 overs.
The visitors were 52-5 after Stephen Harmison claimed two wickets with successive deliveries, the first, Tim Bresnan who was caught by Plunkett for 25 and then Andrew Gale who was trapped lbw. There were just six runs between the fall of fifth and sixth batsmen, Bairstow trapped lbw off Plunkett for 18 as Yorkshire reached 79 and then Gerard Brophy was dismissed by Blackwell for 4.
Harmison took his haul from the session to three, claiming the final wicket of the day, that of Adil Rashid, when he was caught behind for 17. At the close of play Yorkshire were 125-7, with McGrath, who had been dropped on 20, 28*and Pyrah 4*.
At the close of play durhamccc.co.uk spoke to captain Phil Mustard, “This morning was always going to be tough with a bit of cloud cover and some damp – they bowled well and once the sun came out it flattened out a bit. When we were bowling it swung more than it seamed.
“We’d have taken 213 when we were 54-5, we had to battle through and the way Diva played was unbelievable. We put on an important partnership. Once we were in that position we knew we had to fight for that bonus point but also for Diva at the other end who was closing in on his hundred.
“Shahzah bowled a lethal couple of overs and took a few wickets. I was amazed Harmy lasted so long at the end there, but it was great to see the crowd get behind him as we got closer to the 200 mark and getting that vital point.
“The guys bowled pretty well today – we took seven wickets in the session so can’t complain too much. We maybe gave them a little too much early on but once we got into the groove they bowled well. If we can get a few early wickets in the morning we put ourselves in a very good position. This is a big week for us.”
Follow the Live Match Chat from Day One at www.durhamccc.co.uk/live-match-chat
Highlights of day one will be available at www.durhamccc.co.uk/durhamtv/highlights on Tuesday.