Paul Collingwood helped Durham out of trouble against Surrey. Picture: Owen Humphreys/PA Archive

Surrey (129ao) lead Durham (119-4) by 10 runs

The experienced duo of Paul Collingwood and Dale Benkenstein tipped the balance Durham’s way on the first day of the LV= County Championship relegation battle against Surrey at Chester-le-Street.

They shared an unbroken stand of 61 to take Durham to 119 for four after Surrey chose to bat first in sunny conditions and were dismissed for 129.

Durham slipped from 37 for one to 58 for four and Collingwood initially looked ill at ease, edging Tim Linley for four and surviving a big lbw appeal from Jade Dernbach.

But in the battle of two four-man seam attacks, Durham carried much more threat with Ben Stokes emerging with a season’s-best four for 40.

It threatened to be a frustrating morning for Durham until Stokes struck twice then Jason Roy was run out two balls before lunch. When Arun Harinath was bowled by Chris Rushworth straight after the break Surrey had slipped from 41 for one to 67 for five.

Harinath top-scored with 28 and put on 35 for the second wicket with with Rory Burns, who was bowled by a swinging yorker from Stokes.

Two overs later he nipped one back to have Zander de Bruyn lbw for a duck then the run-out came when Harinath played the ball to square leg and ran, but Roy failed to beat Mark Stoneman’s direct hit.

Coming together at 80 for seven, the experienced pair of acting captain Gareth Batty and Jon Lewis put on 37, Lewis pulling Rushworth in front of mid-wicket for six on his way to 23 before both departed with the total on 117.

When Durham replied Stoneman was out in the third over, whipping Jade Dernbach straight to mid-wicket off the back foot to bring in debut boy Keaton Jennings, a tall left-hander.

The former South Africa Under-19s captain, whose mother is from Sunderland, edged his first ball wide of the slips for four but otherwise looked very composed in making 23.

He was run out when de Bruyn made a diving stop at deep gully and threw down the stumps with Jennings unable to scramble back.

Stokes followed shortly afterwards, lobbing a leading edge off Linley to mid-on, but Collingwood survived 19 overs to reach 17 and Benkenstein prospered towards the end to finish on 40.