Onions wrecks Yorkshire

Stumps Durham 327 and 64 for 3 (Benkenstein 9*, Muchall 6*, Ashraf 1-14) v Yorkshire 149 (Rot 45, Onions 5-53)
Scorecard

England seamer Graham Onions, out of action since January last year with a serious back injury, celebrated his return to first class cricket with 5 for 53 as Yorkshire were dispatched for 147 by Durham on the second day of their County Championship clash at Headingley Carnegie.

Yorkshire trailed by 178 after the first innings, but the visitors declined to enforce the follow-on after tea and were 64 for 3 with an overall lead of 242 when bad light ended play. It was the first time that Onions has taken five or more wickets in an innings since his 7 for 38 against Warwickshire in June 2009, and the fourth occasion on which he has bagged five or more against Yorkshire.

Onions was also well supported by his opening partner, Callum Thorp, who claimed three for 33, while Ian Blackwell got plenty of turn from the pitch and gave away just 12 runs in 18 overs during which he dismissed Adil Rashid with a classic left-armer's delivery.

Yorkshire lost their last eight wickets for 49 runs in 31 overs and only 20-year-old opener, Joe Root, in his first home Championship appearance, showed any sort of form, making 45 off 103 balls with five boundaries before being fifth out at 113.

Resuming on 326 for 9, Durham had added only a single by the time last man, Onions, holed out to Andrew Gale at mid-off to give Ryan Sidebottom 4 for 72 and leave Liam Plunkett unbeaten on 66 from 123 deliveries with eight fours.

Yorkshire could hardly have made a worse start to their reply as Adam Lyth pulled Onions' second-ball loosener straight into the hands of Ben Stokes at square leg and Root and Anthony McGrath were given a difficult time by Onions and Thorp, despite Onions sending down several no-balls before dropping into the right rhythm.

Just when the pair appeared to be getting on top, McGrath shouldered arms to Thorp and was lbw for 15, but Root and skipper Gale prevented any further early damage to take Yorkshire in to lunch on 93 for 2.

Soon after the interval, however, Gale attempted to blast Onions over long-on and top-edged a simple catch to Blackwell. From that moment on, Yorkshire were completely outplayed and there was never any sign of a recovery, with Gerard Brophy, coming in at No. 6 and surviving 74 balls for 19 with just one boundary before being left high and dry.

Jonny Bairstow fell lbw to Onions without scoring and the bowler made it three wickets for six runs in 11 deliveries by having Root splendidly caught one-handed by wicketkeeper Michael Richardson flinging himself to his right.

The carnage continued as Rashid edged Blackwell to Michael Di Venuto at slip to be followed back in the next over by Richard Pyrah who was lbw to Thorp off the first ball he had faced. Sidebottom was bowled by Thorp and Steve Patterson could not avoid gloving a snorter from Onions to Richardson, with last man Moin Ashraf then holding out gamely until playing Scott Borthwick off bat and pad into the hands of Stokes.

There was slight consolation for Yorkshire when Durham lost both openers in consecutive overs, Di Venuto edging Sidebottom to first slip where Pyrah plucked up a neat catch and Will Smith falling lbw to Ashraf. In worsening light, Stokes edged Patterson into his stumps to make it 57 for 3, but seven runs later the light became too bad to continue and the day's last 10.1 overs were lost.