Adam Hose, Brett D'Oliveira repel relentless Ben Stokes

England's former Test captain dug deep for the newly-crowned Division Two champions

Worcestershire 270 for 5 (Hose 89, D'Oliveira 82, Potts 2-50) trail Durham 465 (Agarwal 177, Robinson 97) by 195 runs

Worcestershire's batters defied Division Two champions Durham and survived two marathon spells from Ben Stokes to share the honours on the second day of the Rothesay County Championship match at the Banks Homes Riverside

Replying to the home side's 465, Brett D'Oliveira's side were 270 for 5 at the close with Adam Hose on 87 not out. However, the visitors received lost two late wickets, including that D'Oliveira was bowled by Matthew Potts with the new ball for 82 to end his fourth-wicket stand of 179 with Hose.

But the day was also memorable for the severe examination the Worcestershire pair withstood from Stokes, who ended play with figures of 20-4-56-2. And they don't tell half the tale.

In the morning session, Durham's last three wickets added a further 28 runs before the home side were bowled out for 465. Ollie Robinson ensured his side collected a maximum haul of five bonus points but he was last out for 97 when he attempted to drive Tom Taylor over mid-off.

That wicket meant Taylor finished the innings with three for 66. Matthew Waite who had earlier bowled Matthew Potts for nought, knocking out off and middle stumps in the process, took three for 64.

Worcestershire openers Daniel Lategan and Jake Libby began their side's first innings in positive fashion and had taken their side to 60 without loss after 14 overs at lunch. However, the visitors lost three wickets in the first hour of the afternoon session, two of them to Stokes, who bowled for over an hour, taking 2 for 17 in a typically unsparing eight-over spell.

Lategan was caught at slip by Kasey Aldridge for 28 when trying to drive Stokes and Rehaan Edavalath followed him half an hour later for just a single when he attempted to work Stokes on the leg side but only miscued a chance to midwicket which Colin Ackermann sprinted in to scoop up.

Between those successes for the home side, Libby had reached fifty for the sixth time this season but the Worcestershire talisman was soon leg-before to Potts for 55, the ball keeping low and jagging back to give Ant Harris one of his easier decisions of the season.

That wicket left the Pears on 90, still 375 in arrears and things would have been even worse for them had Ben McKinney not dropped Hose at slip off Stokes before he had scored.

The Worcestershire batsman profited mightily from that let-off. He and D'Oliveira gradually batted with more assurance and Hose reached his fifty off 94 balls with seven boundaries. At tea, Worcestershire were 175 for three and perhaps it was wise if the spectators took a little refreshment given the evening session they were about to watch.

Switching to the Finchale End, Stokes bowled for well over an hour for the second time in the day, his analysis for the spell reading 10-1-22-0. It was a period of play that recalled the former England captain's unsparing efforts on the second evening of the 2019 Headingley Test.

But the Worcestershire pair passed their own test and set a new record for their county's fourth-wicket in first-class cricket against Durham, eclipsing the 134-run stand shared by Tom Moody and Gavin Haynes at New Road in 1994.

Just when it seemed Hose and D'Oliveira would survive until stumps, the Pears skipper lost his middle stump to Potts's first delivery with the new ball. Nightwatcher Ben Allison was then leg before to Ben Raine for nought in the final over of the day, further vindicating Alex Lees's decision to take the new cherry.