County Championship: Ben Raine and Paul Coughlin star with the bat as Durham make Worcestershire suffer

Ben Raine's previous highest score in first-class cricket was 82

Durham registered their third highest first-class total of 642-7 to take control of their County Championship Division Two clash against Worcestershire.

Rachin Ravindra continued his fine debut for the home side, scoring his maiden first-class double hundred and going on to reach 217 before he was finally dismissed for the second-highest score made by a Durham debutant.

Paul Coughlin and Ben Raine also became centurions for the first time, sharing a record-breaking stand for Durham's eighth wicket worth 213 to leave their side in a dominant position.

Raine then also got the better of the visitors with the ball, claiming the wickets of Jake Libby and Azhar Ali to reduce Worcestershire to 140 for three at stumps, trailing Durham by 502 runs ahead of day three.

Resuming on 178 not out, Ravindra wasted no time in pushing his score towards 200 with three early boundaries.

The left-hander slipped through the gears and reached his double-century with a gentle nudge into the leg-side before saluting his new team-mates, becoming only the third Durham player to score over 200 on their debut.

Jonathan Bushnell failed to kick on from his overnight score of 61, adding only five further runs before Dillon Pennington prised him out.

Ben Gibbon was given rough ride by Ravindra after being dispatched for back-to-back boundaries down the ground, but he earned a semblance of revenge by removing the New Zealander, who was out in a tame manner caught behind from a leg glance for 217.

The Worcestershire left-armer completed a double-wicket maiden by sending Liam Trevaskis on his way before Ned Eckersley continued the procession with Durham losing three wickets for four runs.

The hosts' wobble threatened to prevent them from capitalising on a flat wicket.

However, Raine and Coughlin allowed the hosts to regain their stranglehold, taking a defeat out of the question, with a record-breaking stand for the eighth wicket.

Raine was first to pass fifty from 72 balls before Coughlin soon caught up with a flurry of boundaries, including two maximums over cow corner, for his first half-century of the campaign.

The milestones kept coming for the hosts as Coughlin and Raine surpassed the 200-run partnership before both men became first-class centurions for the first time.

Coughlin had a straightforward path to three figures, nurdling a single into the leg-side to reach his ton from 117 balls.

Raine followed in the same over, although his heart would have been in his mouth as his sweep off Libby just had enough elevation to beat mid-on to reach his maiden hundred.

Durham declared on their third-highest first-class total and the pressure was on the visitors from the off as Chris Rushworth removed debutant Taylor Cornall from his second delivery with one that kept low.

Libby survived an outside edge that travelled between the slips to deny Rushworth a second wicket, and the opener worked with Ali to see off the new ball with a partnership of 58.

Raine continued his impressive day to break the stand as Libby edged to Scott Borthwick at second slip.

Ali and Jack Haynes settled in with another solid partnership worth 69 to edge the visitors towards the close, but Raine again was the man for the hosts as he returned after a stoppage for bad light and dismissed Ali for 45, inside edging onto his own stumps, to leave Durham in command.

Report supplied by the ECB Reporters' Network.