Tom Taylor, Nathan Smith take four each to give Worcestershire fighting chance

Fantastic four-wicket returns from Tom Taylor and Nathan Smith gave Worcestershire a fighting chance in a rain-affected second day of their Vitality County Championship clash with Durham.

The pair had the ball on a string at the Seat Unique Riverside and picked up key wickets, but 40 from Colin Ackermann helped Durham build their lead to 226 after finishing day two on 148 for nine.

With plenty of rain around, there was no play at Chester-le-Street until just after one o'clock and the visitors took two wickets in a seven-over spell before being forced off by the weather once again.

Wickets continued to fall in the evening session, but Ackermann adapted to the conditions and helped his side build a challenging lead. Smith, who is yet to be capped at international level for New Zealand, has been a fantastic addition to the Pears' team, with the overseas star adding to the two second innings wickets he took late on in a chaotic day one, finishing with figures of four for 52.

Meanwhile, Taylor picked up four for 46 including the vital wicket of England captain Ben Stokes with the last ball of the day. Durham resumed on 33 for three after the start was delayed by more than two hours due to rain.

Nightwatchmen Matthew Potts and Peter Siddle resumed on nought and two respectively after the late spurt of wickets on day one. Potts, who has received a recall to the England Test squad for the West Indies series, looked to be positive and kept the scoreboard ticking over.

The first wicket of the day fell in the fourth over of the day when Taylor bowled Siddle for three with a brilliant piece of bowling. Potts whipped a probing ball from Smith off his pads for four, a shot that any top order batter would be proud of, but he was soon back in the pavilion for 18 as Smith took two of his stumps out the ground.

The rain then returned and there was a lengthy delay before Ackermann and Bedingham, who was accompanied by runner Scott Borthwick due to a hamstring niggle, returned to the crease.

The pitch continued to offer plenty of assistance to the bowlers after the second rain delay, with the exceptional Smith getting the ball talking. Despite his injury, Bedingham crunched a lovely cover drive to the boundary, which got him off the mark.

After a positive start to his innings, South African international Bedingham pulled a short ball from Smith straight to the hands of Amar Virdi on the legside boundary for 17.

Ackermann continued to bat sensibly along with Ollie Robinson as they added to Durham's lead.

Robinson was then dismissed for nine in a similar fashion to Bedingham after he pulled a Ben Allison ball to Matthew Waite at fine leg.

That brought England captain Stokes to the crease, with the all-rounder putting in a dogged performance with the bat, but he also showed his boundary-hitting capabilities as he pulled an Allison ball for six.

Taylor got his third wicket of the innings, with Ackermann edging behind for a resilient 40 late on.

Stokes departed with the last ball of the day for 26 as Taylor bowled him with one that kept low, however the hosts have a lead of 226 heading into day three on a challenging pitch.