Lewis closes in on century for Durham

Durham captain Jon Lewis was three short of his second century of the season when his side closed the first day on 215 for two against Worcestershire at Chester-le-Street.

Play began 90 minutes late following rain and Lewis batted through the day, hitting 15 fours off 255 balls.

Without a half-century in his previous 11 Championship innings, Lewis had only one narrow escape. On 21 he took evasive action against a short ball from Andy Bichel and edged it just over the slips.

He had to work hard against Bichel and Alamgir Sheriyar, with the left-armer conceding only 26 runs in 18 overs. But the third seamer, Chris Liptrot, was the weak link in the attack, going for five runs an over.

England Under-19 left-hander Gary Pratt contributed an impressive 37 to a stand of 85, only seven short of Durham's highest opening stand of the season.

Only nine runs came off the first nine overs before Liptrot came on and Pratt quickly hit him for three of his six fours, two of them racing through the covers off successive balls.

Pratt fell lbw trying to whip Liptrot through the leg side then Martin Love shared a stand of 53 before he was snared by David Leatherdale.

Coming on after tea, the medium-pacer struck in his third over when Love pushed forward and edged to wicket-keeper Steve Rhodes for 26.

Leatherdale posed no problems for Paul Collingwood, who quickly cracked him for three fours on his way to 41 not out.