Durham second LV=County Championship match at Edgbaston had an exciting start with Warwickshire finishing 299-7.
Chris Rushworth continued where he left off in last week’s win over Somerset taking 2-52 while Ben Stokes also claimed two wickets and there was a strike apiece for Graham Onions, Callum Thorp and Will Smith.
Paul Collingwood won the toss and sent Warwickshire into bat first with the overcast conditions in Birmingham.
They made a solid start with openers Varun Chopra and Ian Westwood, however Durham finally got the breakthrough in the 11th over when Onions had Chopra caught at second slip by Scott Borthwick for eight.
He was soon followed back to the pavilion by his opening partner as Westwood fell for 28 lbw to Rushworth with the score on 49.
Onions thought he had snagged another as William Porterfield edged behind, however, as the 28-year-old walked off, he was called back by Phil Mustard, as the ball hadn’t carried to the keeper.
Porterfield and Captain Jim Troughton found their rhythm at the crease and added 62 before Rushworth struck again, as Smith pulled off a good catch to see the Porterfield go for 27.
Troughton, however, kept plugging away to reach his half century despite some tight bowling by the Durham seamers. He and former Durham University student Laurie Evans moved the score past 150.
Durham took their fourth wicket just as Evans was approaching his fifty, with Collingwood taking a good catch in first slip from the bowling of Thorp.
After the Tea break, Troughton and Tim Ambrose continued to build the Warwickshire innings before their partnership of 46 was broken by Stokes, as the former England keeper edged onto his stumps.
The following over saw Smith get only his 12th wicket in first class county cricket as Rikki Clarke edged the ball to Mustard behind the stumps. Troughton finally went for 84 when he fell to Stokes, with Benkenstein taking the catch.
However, Barker and Woakes got Warwickshire back on track with a partnership of 50 as the Bears finished on 299-7 at the end of day one.
Keep an eye on durhamccc.co.uk to see how the lads get on on Day Two.