A superb fifth first-class century for Ricardo Vasconcelos saw Northamptonshire finish Day 2 with a lead against Durham.
The weather defied all odds with no time lost for rain on the second day, Durham resuming 209/7 after a record eighth wicket stand. Northamptonshire needed just 11 overs of the morning session to close out the innings however, Hutton trapping both Raine and Rushworth LBW and Ben Sanderson claiming his fourth wicket of the innings when he had Potts caught at slip. Durham all out for 253 with Northamptonshire taking full bowling bonus points. Sanderson claiming his best figures of the season so far, 4/55 with 11 maidens in his 28 overs.
Vasconcelos and Curran started well in the reply, taking the score to 46 without loss at the lunch interval. 2 wickets fell shortly after the break though, Carse bowling Curran before finding the outside edge from Wakely to have Northamptonshire 54/2. Bavuma and Vasconcelos looked fluent through their partnership, both batsmen regularly finding the boundary with fluent drives and legside tucks. Vasconcelos brought up a half century and the stand moved to 99 before Bavuma edged through to the keeper for 43.
This prompted a frantic final 10 overs before tea which saw Northamptonshire fall from 153/2 to 175/6. Keogh was lbw to Rushworth for 0 before Rossington and Procter fell in successive deliveries, both caught keeper Eckersley. Brett Hutton and Vasconcelos steadied however and batted through the final session of the day with relative comfort. Playing his first Championship game of the year after struggling with injury, Hutton looked in good touch with the bat, driving straight down the ground on multiple occasions on his way to 30 not out overnight.
Vasconcelos lead things though, the opener sending a ball into the stands to bring up fifth first-class century, after a short break for bad light towards the end of the day. His season first-class 100 of the season came up in 196 balls and was a vital backbone of the Northamptonshire reply. The partnership with Hutton reached 80 by the close of play, Northamptonshire leading by 1 run with 2 batting bonus points in the bag.
Durham 253 (Sanderson 4/55, Coles 2/37)
Northamptonshire 254/6 (Vasconcelos 105*, Curran 43)
Northamptonshire leads by 1 run.