Durham v Worcestershire: Phil Hughes hits ton but home side still on top

Worcestershire's Phil Hughes hit only his second County Championship hundred, but the Division One bottom side still face defeat at Chester-le-Street.

Durham will resume on day three needing a further 148 runs to knock off their fourth successive Championship victory.

After Durham added 19 runs to their overnight score to be bowled out for 234, the visitors looked good on 148-0.

But once Hughes (104) and Daryl Mitchell (45) went, they folded to 264 all out before Durham closed on 3-1.

The late loss of Will Smith, who played on after attempting to shoulder arms to Chris Russell in the final over of the day, will be a slight worry for the home side.

But Durham, for whom Callum Thorp took 5-59, backed by Scott Borthwick (3-76), ought to win from here.

After the fall of 19 wickets on the first day, only three went down in the first two second-day sessions until Worcestershire collapsed again after tea.

Australian left-hander Hughes showed his Test class with a brilliant century, but the visitors then lost eight wickets after tea, six of them to reckless shots.

VIEW FROM THE COMMENTARY BOX

BBC Radio Newcastle's Martin Emmerson:

"Worcestershire's openers Phil Hughes and Daryl Mitchell did a great job wiping out the 114-run deficit but sadly the rest of their colleagues failed to build on that platform.

"It took 47 overs for Durham seamer Ben Stokes to break the deadlock but, once he removed Hughes and Mitchell, the rest collapsed, losing their last eight wickets for just 69 runs.

"Durham need to be cautious but, with nine wickets in hand, time is also very much on their side."