County Championship: Stokes 82 leads Durham effort against Glamorgan

Ben Stokes hit 161 off 88 balls in his first game of the season at Worcester

England captain Ben Stokes was in the runs again with 82 as Durham made 311 against Glamorgan after being put in.

Stokes' innings mixed patience with a few big blows as he smashed two sixes off Ashes rival Marnus Labuschagne, though it was not the all-out assault of the previous week at Worcester.

South Africa's Keegan Petersen made 78, but Durham's total looked a touch below-par.

It soon seemed better as Glamorgan slumped to 31 for two.

The visitors owed much to opening bowlers Michael Hogan (4-67) and Michael Neser (2-26) after Timm van der Gugten went off with a recurring hamstring problem.

David Lloyd's decision to bowl first looked the obvious one on a cloudy day with a green-tinged wicket, and his side got an early reward with the in-form Sean Dickson edging Michael Neser to slip for just five, following three successive hundreds.

But Alex Lees (44) and Petersen looked untroubled in a stand of 62, with the bowlers getting no initial assistance from the conditions, before Lees inside-edged a ball from Lloyd onto his leg-stump.

Durham stuttered slightly as Scott Borthwick (17) drove Michael Hogan to mid-on and David Bedingham (11) was trapped lbw by Andy Gorvin, bringing Stokes to the middle at 130-4.

He survived a couple of early leg-before appeals before opening up, top-edging the seam of Labuschagne for four.

Labuschagne got some sort of revenge when Stokes was floored by a bottom edge into a painful area, while the classy Petersen looked in no difficulty in moving to 78 off 123 balls before edging Lloyd to slip.

Stokes made sure of a reasonably substantial total as he shared a stand of 54 with Ned Eckersley (21) and 61 with Ben Raine (31), but he eventually fell to the second delivery of the new ball as the veteran Hogan claimed the last three wickets to fall.

That left Glamorgan with a tricky nine overs under the lights in the evening gloom, with Matty Potts making the most of his chance to dismiss struggling opener Andrew Salter and nightwatchman Andy Gorvin, forcing Labuschagne to see out the session with Lloyd.

Durham batter Keegan Petersen told BBC Radio Newcastle:

"I've finally got the feel of these (English) conditions though I would have loved to have scored a hundred.

"It's a good batting wicket mostly, but you never feel as if you're quite in, there were periods when they bowled well and you've got to be focussed. All the wickets over here look green to me.

"I envy (Ben Stokes), I wish I could hit the ball like that, but he is something else.

"His presence alone in the changing-rooms gives the team a big lift, he's a big character and hopefully it rubs off on the team."

Glamorgan bowler Michael Hogan told BBC Sport Wales:

"It was nice to get the wickets towards the end (of Durham's innings), we were happy to bowl them out after putting them in, it was a few more than we would have liked though.

"(Petersen and Stokes) are quality players, when the ball was old it was looking quite ominous for a while, but the wicket was a bit up and down, and one bounced a little bit more to take the glove (of Stokes). It's good to test yourself against these players.

"The wicket played quite nicely, a few stayed low or bounced a bit but the score was probably par. Maybe we were a bit low on energy, it was a long drive up after a long game last week.

"It'll be a challenge (to get a lead), but Marnus looked quite good tonight, hopefully he can put on a few with Dave and there are a few more (batters) left in the hut so we've got to back ourselves to bat big."