Dale Benkenstein and Liam Plunkett resumed for Durham first thing and their partnership reached 78 before the latter was caught by Richard Pyrah off the bowling of Oliver Hannon-Dalby for 30. Mitchell Claydon came in and contributed a determined 29, including five boundaries before he was out lbw to Shahzad.
Dale Benkenstein fell on 74, leaving Durham 304-9, after he was caught behind off Patterson, bringing Stephen Harmison to the middle to join Chris Rushworth. The pair added 36, extending the Durham innings to just after lunch before Rushworth was bowled by Patterson with the third delivery of the afternoon session.
Yorkshire started confidently with the opening batsmen putting on 113 with Lyth eventually caught in the slips by Michael Di Venuto on 48 following a bowling change that saw Ben Stokes strike with his third ball.
Jacques Rudolph scored his hundred just after tea from 137 balls, including 15 boundaries but was sent back to the pavilion without scoring any further runs when he was bowled by Claydon. Claydon took his haul to three when McGrath was caught by Stokes on 29 and his replacement, Bairstow, falling shortly after when he was caught behind on 13, leaving Yorkshire 228-4.
At the close of play Yorkshire were requiring just 54 runs for victory. We spoke to Mitchell Claydon at the end of the day, “We need 6 wickets and they need about 60 runs so whoever starts best in the morning will win the game. If we can get a couple and put pressure on them early we’re right back in it. We were pleased with our lead, the tailenders fought hard to get there and get the runs.
“Geoff’s had me working hard on my batting and scoring runs in those situations gives you confidence in your whole game. This has been my best domestic season so far performance wise – I’m still learning but it’s been great having someone like Stephen about, with all his experience. There’s still something happening in the pitch and I don’t think their runs will come easy in the morning.
“Their openers played really well I didn’t think we bowled poorly but credit has to go to Jacques Rudolph who didn’t give us a chance until he got out. If we hadn’t got Jacques when we did it could have been close to over tonight as he looked to be getting on with it. It’s been the kind of game where when you get a wicket you tend to get a couple together – we knew if we stuck with it we’d pick up a couple of wickets and we did.
“They could be six down but we had two lbw’s turned down – it’s a shame that there have been a few decisions in the match that haven’t gone our way but that’s cricket and umpiring is a tough job. I’d set the first one up (Patterson), it was all part of a plan but we’ve got to get on with it and get those six wickets in the morning.
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