Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWPix.com. Ollie Robinson is bowled by George Hill.
Yorkshire need eight more points to secure their top-flight status in the Rothesay County Championship having claimed two with ball in hand during a hard-fought opening day of their final-round clash with Durham at Headingley.
Durham slipped to 7-2 inside five overs having elected to bat, but South Africa Test batter David Bedingham’s season’s best 93 off 195 balls helped them recover to close on 322-7 from 96 overs. Their progression was initially watchful before a late and vigorous 87 not out off 85 from all-rounder Ben Raine – also his season’s best score.
George Hill’s seam accounted for two wickets for the hosts to move to 47 for the season, while fellow seamer Jack White also impressed to add two of his own. The new-ball exponent is not far behind on 39.
Yorkshire came into this fixture seventh in the table on 146 points, Durham ninth on 140. Sandwiched in between, Hampshire on 142.
The White Rose have three wins to Durham’s two, edging the first tiebreaker should teams finish level on points.
There are many complications in this race for survival. But simply, Jonny Bairstow’s side needed 10 points before a ball was bowled.
Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWPix.com. Jack White struck twice today – once apiece with both new balls.
After a minute’s applause for the late and legendary Dickie Bird, observed impeccably by all – including England Test captain Ben Stokes, who is part of Durham’s travelling party this week – Yorkshire soared in the early stages thanks to strikes for Matt Milnes and then White.
They removed openers Alex Lees and Emilio Gay, both caught at third slip by Fin Bean. Both left-handers could have left their deliveries alone.
Bedingham, dogged and not his usual dashing self, later shared a fourth-wicket stand of 101 either side of lunch with former Yorkshire Championship-winner Will Rhodes, who contributed 53.
Bedingham was involved in a number of useful contributions.
Durham wanted to make first use of what looks a good, hybrid pitch here at Headingley, but they were on the back foot all morning even though Ben McKinney and Bedingham shared 44 for the third wicket.
McKinney was dropped in the slips on 19, though thankfully it only cost another 10 runs as he was caught behind pushing forwards against Hill, leaving the score at 51-3 in the 20th over.
Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWPix.com. Yorkshire and Durham remember the late Dickie Bird.
Anthony McGrath picked the same team as he played in last week’s stalemate against Sussex at Hove, opting to play on a hybrid pitch minus the grassy tinge we had seen on early-season surfaces here in four-day cricket.
Durham reached lunch at 63-3 in 28 overs and continued on after lunch through Bedingham and Rhodes, the latter who was dropped in the slips on 17.
The pair repelled an accurate attack and reached fifties – Bedingham’s off 105 balls, Rhodes’s off 96. By the time the latter got there, Durham were 152-3 after 50 overs, and it felt like a good portion of the hard work had been done.
So it will have been of significant frustration to the visitors when Rhodes miscued a heave to leg off Dom Bess to mid-wicket in the next over, quickly followed by Ollie Robinson bowled by Hill offering no stroke.
Durham were on the back foot again at 155-5 in the 54th.
Bedingham and Graham Clark saw their side through to tea at 193-5 after 64 overs.
Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWPix.com. The Yorkshire hierarchy placed flowers, a Yorkshire cap and an umpire’s coat on the seat where Dickie always sat in the main pavilion, just outside the Hawke Suite.
This was Bedingham’s season’s best score in a disrupted Championship campaign. Only six appearances have been possible because of South Africa commitments.
Bedingham lost sixth-wicket partner Clark for 27 – they had shared 48 – when he shuffled across his stumps and tried to play Jordan Thompson’s seam to leg, trapped in front lbw – 203-6 in the 72nd.
Raine hit Bess’s off-spin for two sixes – one over long-off, the other over deep mid-wicket – and they shared 42.
However, having taken the new ball, White struck a key blow to remove Bedingham seven short of his century.
And it was in no small part because of a wonderful catch from Hill as he ran back from first slip towards third-man following a top-edged pull. That left Durham at 245-7 in the 83rd over.
Raine then reached his fifty off 58 balls and clattered two more sixes as he shared an unbroken 77 for the eighth wicket with Matthew Potts, who ended the day on 23. 
Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWPix.com. Will Rhodes and David Bedingham shared a fourth-wicket century partnership either side of lunch to lead the Durham fightback.
