Wickets tumble as Ollie Robinson's fifty lifts Durham

Ollie Robinson led a strong Durham response with the bat after Jason Holder had threatened to put Worcestershire in a strong position on day one of their Vitality County Championship clash with Durham at Kidderminster.

The England Lions wicketkeeper was responsible for a partial recovery after Durham was reduced to 141 for 7 midway through the afternoon session.

Ex-West Indies captain Holder, available for the first five Championship games, had taken a brilliant 8-26-3 after lunch, removing David Bedingham, Graham Clark and Paul Coughlin. But Robinson went on the offensive to reach his half-century off just 41 balls, hitting three sixes and five fours.

Jake Libby dug in for an unbeaten 35 after Ben Raine and Matthew Potts provided useful lower-order support and then made early inroads with the ball.

Worcestershire was playing first-class cricket at Chester Road for the first time in four years due to the back-to-back floods that engulfed New Road this winter. At least Worcestershire's first two Championship home matches following their promotion from Division Two with Durham will be played at Kidderminster.

Groundstaff is hoping for a dry spring to boost their hopes of playing the third home game against Nottinghamshire - starting on May 24 - at the county's headquarters.

Both sides have been forced to make changes due to injury setbacks. Worcestershire's in-form opener Kashif Ali has been ruled out with a back injury sustained in training, while Durham pace bowler Scott Boland injured his foot in the draw with Warwickshire at Edgbaston. Brydon Carse was also unavailable due to match management commitments.

Play started half an hour late and Durham captain Scott Borthwick opted to bat on his 34th birthday as the Duke's ball returned to the bowlers' armoury. The home side struck two early blows and it was not a happy anniversary for Borthwick.

Borthwick had failed to trouble the scorers when a delivery from Joe Leach in the first over took his outside edge and hit the top of the off stump. And it was 19 for 2 when Alex Lees pushed forward to Nathan Smith and fell to a low catch by Holder to his right at second slip.

Colin Ackermann had an escape on 18 when he flicked Holder off his legs and saw the chance go to midwicket. The third-wicket pair of Ackermann and David Bedingham struggled for runs, although the latter greeted Matthew Waite's entry into the attack with successive cover drives for four.

Durham reached 89 for 2 at lunch but Holder moved to the pavilion end and struck in the first over back. Bedingham, on 38, tried to cut the former West Indies captain but only managed to chop on to his stumps.

Leach bowled a probing spell after lunch and was rewarded when Ackermann, on 47, was lbw to a delivery angled back in.

Holder continued to ask questions and struck again when Graham Clark was lbw working to the leg. Adam Finch then replaced Leach and was immediately successful when Bas de Leede played a similar shot and fell in the same manner.

Robinson decided attack was the best policy and received excellent support from Ben Raine in a stand of 61 from 8.4 overs. The Durham wicketkeeper hit Waite for two straight sixes in one over as he raced to his half-century. But Waite had the last word when Robinson pushed forward and keeper Gareth Roderick took a low catch.

Raine top edged a pull to Roderick and Callum Parkinson missed a full toss and was lbw to Finch, who wrapped up the innings with two wickets in three balls.

But Worcestershire quickly ran into trouble against the new-ball attack of Raine and Matthew Potts. Raine had Roderick caught behind and skipper Brett D'Oliveira failed to play and was bowled by Potts.

Libby and Rob Jones dug in at first but then began to play a series of fine shots. The stand was worth 60 when Jones (32) pushed forward to Coughlin and was lbw and then Adam Hose chopped the same bowler on to his stumps.