Durham enjoy better of opening day at Southport against Lancashire

Steven Croft and Alviro Petersen both made half-centuries for Lancashire on the opening day at Southport, but the hosts were put to task by Durham after they were bowled out for 204.

Petersen (51) continued his incredible form in all formats by registering his fourth fifty in red-ball cricket the day after he hit an unbeaten century in the Blast, with captain Croft top-scoring with 54 to rescue his side after they had fallen to 105/5 in the afternoon session.

A sturdy partnership for the third wicket between Luke Procter (30) and Petersen helped the Red Rose to add 66 runs either side of lunch, but a middle-order collapse allowed Durham to restrict their hosts to a modest first-innings score after winning the toss and electing to bat first. In reply, the visitors posted 88/3, with Mark Stoneman (41) and Scott Borthwick (37*) taking Lancashire's lead to 116 runs.

Tom Smith fell for a duck to the sixth ball of the day when a rising delivery from Chris Rushworth (4-30) took the edge of the bat and flew to Ben Stokes at third slip. Haseeb Hameed added 10 before he was caught by Keaton Jennings off Paul Coughlin (2-31) with Lancashire stumbling to 26/2 in the first hour. Rushworth's economical opening spell of seven overs saw the bowler record five maidens, with Lancashire making little progress against the new ball.

Hameed had earlier been dropped by Durham captain Paul Collingwood, who was forced to leave the field with split webbing, having entered this fixture on the back of a thumb injury. Petersen brought an excellent counterpunch to Durham's dominance in the morning session, pulling Coughlin for two boundaries in quick succession. He then took on young spinner Adam Hickey, advancing down the pitch to dispatch him over long-on for six, before hitting a perfectly-timed drive through the covers.

Procter and Petersen had added 55 runs by the time lunch arrived, but both batsmen were back in the pavilion shortly after the players returned for the afternoon session. Lancashire lost three wickets for eight runs in the space of 11 balls after the lunch interval, with Procter edging Coughlin behind to Michael Richardson the ball after he had been dropped at third slip by Stokes.

Petersen, who hit Lancashire's first century in T20 cricket for eight years at Grace Road yesterday, registered his fourth fifty in red-ball cricket in 67 balls, but the experienced batsman fell the next ball in disappointing fashion. Having escaped a potential catch at deep mid-wicket when he skied a mistimed pull shot, Petersen was then caught comfortably short of his ground attempting an ambitious second run to Jack Burnham, as he fell for 51 at 103/4.

Karl Brown edged an attempted drive off Graham Onions (1-49) into the hands of Jennings, who took a tumbling catch to give Durham their third breakthrough in quick succession. It could very easily have been 105/6 - and four wickets in 22 balls -when first-class debutant Tom Moores was dropped by Stokes, which caused the England all-rounder to throw the ball into the turf in disgust.

The young wicketkeeper batsman progressed well after being given an early life, helping Croft to add 41 runs for the sixth wicket in testing conditions. Moores hit two boundaries in quick succession on his way to 25, but Jennings had the debutant out with his fifth ball of the match, when Moores edged behind to Richardson at 146/6.

Croft attempted to relieve the pressure that was building on his side, rocking onto the back foot and launching Jennings for six into the leg-side, but wickets continued to fall at the other end, with Kyle Jarvis (2) offering Jennings his second breakthrough in the space of three overs with a routine return catch off his own bowling.

The Lancashire skipper was four runs short of a half-century at tea, but he struggled find long-term support from the tail, as Simon Kerrigan (11) started a purple patch for Rushworth with an edge behind to Richardson at 195/8. Croft's 91-ball fifty came as brief consolation to the captain, who was perfectly aware that his side were up against one of the most imposing bowling attacks in the country on a surface with variable bounce.

His determination was also hampered by the fact that the tail were dismantled by Rushworth, who finished with four wickets to his name when Matthew Parkinson was bowled for no score, before Croft was caught and bowled for 54 to end the innings at 204.

Lancashire were boosted by the availability of James Anderson, who is eligible to play in the first two days of this fixture before resting ahead of the Second Test against Pakistan at Old Trafford on July 22. The England seamer struck in his second over - his eighth ball of the game - removing Jennings with an unplayable delivery that climbed late and flew to Croft second slip.

Stoneman and Borthwick put on 69 runs for the second wicket at a good pace, taking a sizeable chunk out of Lancashire's humble total, but a dominant close of play scoreboard was altered by a late burst of wickets from Luke Procter (2-7). The all-rounder accounted for Stoneman with his fifth ball when he edged behind to Moores for 41, before striking two overs later to remove Burnham (7), edging to Croft to signal close of play.