Thank goodness Yorkshire’s LV= County Championship match against Durham is only going to last for three days.

While rain has ruined the game as a spectacle so far, with only 53 overs possible on the opening two days, you get the feeling the Tykes would be heading for defeat if the match had run its full course.

This is after Yorkshire slumped to 170-9 by the close on day two.

After the first day was washed out completely, things started to go wrong from the very first over of the match at the Emirates Durham International Cricket Ground.

With a damp pitch it was always going to be a good toss to win – and with an attack which is probably the best in the county game at the moment, the Durham bowlers soon got into their stride after opting to field first.

Graham Onions struck with the sixth ball of the match to set the tone, when he had Adam Lyth caught in the slips for a duck, before Callum Thorp and Steve Harmison also impressed either side of another lengthy rain delay.

By the time it came the Tykes had been reduced to 66-3 – with Thorp ousting Anthony McGrath for three and Onions getting rid of captain Andrew Gale for nine – before worse was to follow upon the resumption of play.

Four hours were lost, but with 35.3 overs of play still available the Durham attack were again on the button from the off.

Three balls later Joe Root was out for 27, to give Steve Harmison the first of his two wickets, before Gary Ballance chopped on to the ex-England man to leave the Tykes on 76-5. The flurry of action was all a far cry from day one in the north-east, when only 38 hardy souls turned up to see play abandoned by 3pm.

There was still time for more Durham success by the close.

Only Adil Rashid provided any real resistance after York-based Jonny Bairstow was caught at first slip by Paul Collingwood off Onions for 38. When Rashid went for 47, Yorkshire crumbled.

His wicket was the first of three to fall in ten balls, with Rich Pyrah run-out following a mix-up with Ajmal Shahzad for 18 and Collingwood removing Ryan Sidebottom for three.

It saw Yorkshire slip from 148-6 to 152-9 – before the Tykes at least made sure they were not bowled out through some stubborn late defence. Shahzad will resume day three on nine, with Steve Patterson on seven.