Collingwood gives Durham hope

Durham, who narrowly failed to pull off their first Championship win a week ago when they lost by two wickets to Lancashire in the final over, will hope for better fortune at their Chester-le-Street HQ on the final day against Warwickshire in another enticingly-balanced contest.

Warwickshire trail by 227 and still have to take the last three Durham wickets after a third day in which play ended at 2.30pm, with plans for a resumption at 5.15pm falling prey to more drizzle and poor light.

When Durham were 116 for 7, Warwickshire were back in the game after trailing by 80 on first innings, but Collingwood and Scott Borthwick staged a recovery, with Collingwood surviving an injury scare after he was struck on the hand by Chris Wright. He went for an X-ray, which revealed there was no break, and remains 29 not out overnight.

All the Warwickshire seamers bowled well in the morning, with plenty of swing available. They were frustrated by nightwatchman Jamie Harrison, who survived for 75 minutes to make 23, while his overnight partner Gordon Muchall surrendered to a skied pull off Chris Woakes in the seventh over of the day.

After taking five catches at second slip in the first innings, Rikki Clarke put one down off Wright with Ben Stokes on 9. But Stokes was unable to profit, adding only five before edging Keith Barker to Tim Ambrose.

Harrison became a maiden first-class victim for Tom Milnes, 19, when he edged the all-rounder's second ball of the day to Varun Chopra at first slip. There were two more catches for Warwickshire's acting captain. First Dale Benkenstein fended a lifter from Woakes to Chopra at chest height, then he clung on to a sharp one to his right to get rid of Phil Mustard in the last over before lunch.