David Bedingham hundred gives Durham impetus

David Bedingham pressed his international credentials with a brilliant century on day one of Durham's LV= Insurance County Championship Division Two clash against Worcestershire at Seat Unique Riverside.

Before the start of the season, Bedingham declared his intention to play for his home nation of South Africa rather than await his availability for an England call. He duly delivered a timely reminder of his quality with a sublime innings of 118 after Alex Lees provided the platform with a knock of 70 at the top of the order, allowing Durham to post 363 for 7.

Ben Gibbon and Adam Finch were the pick of the Worcestershire bowlers, preventing the hosts from building a dominant position by taking timely wickets. Gibbon ended the day with four for 75, including the scalp of Bedingham in the final hour, to drag his team back into the game on day one.

After being inserted, Durham opener Lees endured a streaky start to his knock. He survived two inside edges and was able to settle into a rhythm with Michael Jones, and Lees quickly brought up the fifty stand in the 11th over with a cut to the fence, continuing Durham's attacking intent from their opening match against Sussex.

Finch and Gibbon turned the momentum of the morning session by hitting the pitch hard with a tight line. Back-to-back maidens forced a mistake from Jones to hand Finch the breakthrough. Finch continued to run in from the Lumley End and his effort ball ended a difficult 58-ball stay for Durham captain Scott Borthwick, who looked rusty following his return from a finger injury.

Lees remained stoic and ground out his second fifty of the season from 110 deliveries. The England opener was not at his fluent best but displayed much-needed resilience to hand his team a solid platform before he was finally undone by a peach from Gibbon, who found the gap between bat and pad and removed his middle stump.

Bedingham was the beneficiary of Lees' exploits and ensured that Durham capitalised on their position of strength, surging past his fifty at almost a run-a-ball. The South African was in pristine touch and pressed on toward three figures after taking 15 runs from Finch's 14th over, including a brilliant pull into the pavilion to register his first six of the day.

Bedingham notched his 14th first-class century with a gentle nudge into the leg side, earning the deserved applause of the Riverside crowd after a near-faultless knock. The right-hander was taken out of his rhythm by a rain break, and the brief pause allowed Gibbon to return with the new ball to prise out Bedingham, ending a stand of 113 with Graham Clark for the fifth wicket.

One wicket became three in seven deliveries as the hosts were in danger of throwing away their grip of day one as Gibbon and Joe Leach struck to remove Jonathan Bushnell and Clark. Ben Raine and Paul Coughlin stemmed the tide with a fifty-run stand to give Durham a narrow edge on the scoreboard heading into day two.