Smith steadies Warwickshire against Durham

Kai Smith is playing only his second first-class match

Rothesay County Championship Division One, Banks Homes Riverside (day two)

Durham 387: McKinney 153, Potts 70, Bedingham 58; Ali 4-66, Booth 3-72

Warwickshire 287-8: Smith 79, Booth 50*; Hogg 3-60

Warwickshire (4 pts) trail Durham (5 pts) by 100 with two wickets standing

Match scorecard

A brilliant bowling performance from Durham put them in a controlling position in their County Championship clash with Warwickshire despite excellent half-centuries from Kai Smith and Michael Booth.

Durham were bowled out for 387, adding 44 to their overnight total, with Warwickshire spinner Taz Ali mopping up the tail, picking up two wickets to give him figures of 4-66.

Warwickshire's reply started well with their opening pair putting on 57, but the visitors struggled to get a grip of the game as Daniel Hogg and Brendan Doggett put them in a spot of bother at 157-6.

However, Smith and Booth excelled with the bat to combine for a 115-run partnership which gave Warwickshire some hope of getting close to Durham's score, but late wickets meant that the visitors closed on 287-8, 100 behind.

Resuming on 343-7, Ben McKinney and Matthew Potts were looking to pursue quick runs for Durham in the opening session of day two.

McKinney passed 150 with a nice flick off his pads for four but the opener did not last much longer as he was caught behind off an Ethan Bamber ball for 153.

Potts smashed a Booth delivery over the square leg boundary for six, but his excellent knock ended soon after as he was stumped by Smith off the bowling of 18-year-old Ali for 70 and the spinner wrapped up the innings in the same over when he got Doggett lbw.

Warwickshire's opening pair of Alex Davies and Rob Yates started their reply well, with Yates producing a lovely cover drive for four off the bowling of Potts.

Davies then found the boundary with a super straight drive from a Hogg delivery and a few balls later he picked up back-to-back fours from the same bowler.

Hogg responded though and removed the Warwickshire skipper for 38 as Davies chipped a ball to Emilio Gay, who caught excellently at cover.

He struck again soon after, with the 20-year-old producing a jaffa to bowl Warwickshire prospect Hamza Shaikh for a two-ball duck just before lunch.

Doggett forced Sam Hain into an edge following the resumption after lunch but Will Rhodes dropped a regulation catch at first slip with the Bears batter on nine.

Durham continued to probe and Yates and Hain were happy to absorb the pressure, but the pressure was too much for the former as he edged a Ben Raine delivery to second slip for 42.

Hain started to make the most of his second chance as he played a lovely cover drive for four, but Rhodes atoned for his drop by getting the England white-ball player lbw to swing the momentum back to Durham.

Doggett was then rewarded for his hard work with his first Durham wicket as Hain edged behind to a diving Ollie Robinson for 30 and Ed Barnard skied one straight to the hands of Alex Lees at mid-wicket to depart for 12.

Young Bears wicketkeeper Smith looked good in the early stages of his innings and he picked up three boundaries from a Raine over.

He and Booth continued to frustrate Durham, with Smith impressing in particular as he adapted to the match situation and reached 50 from 86 balls.

However, just before close Smith departed for 79 as he spliced a Hogg delivery in the air and Gay made no mistake with the catch at third man.

And there was another boost for the hosts when Raine had Ali lbw for one, but Booth reached an unbeaten half century in the final over of the day.

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Durham pace bowler Daniel Hogg:

"I've had a frustrating pre-season with an elbow injury to set me back. I think it was just a bit of nerves at the start and it was nice, once I'd settled in, to get in the groove of it.

"The partnership we had yesterday (McKinney and Potts) set up the game beautifully and then to go the way we've gone about it, we've definitely set things up for us to be on top for the next two days.

(On Booth and Smith) "To be honest, it was very flat and they were both playing well. I think our plan was just to target the stumps with the odd short ball in there and then the way they were going I felt they were going to take the short ball on.

"I think the plan is to try and get the two wickets as quickly as we can and pile on the runs to give us a big lead, which puts us in a position to dictate the game really."

Warwickshire wicketkeeper Kai Smith:

"It was unfortunate I couldn't kick on to get the big hundred, but I'm still happy to add runs to the board and get that lead down.

"It does go to show that on a wicket like that even after losing a few quick wickets, if you give yourself time in the middle and stick to your basics then you can bat all day almost.

"I'm absolutely loving being in the team, I'm just trying to take in as much as possible, learning from the guys.

"It wasn't a guarantee that I was gonna play, as long as you put in the hard yards, eventually good things are going to come out at the end of it."