A youthful Yorkshire bowling attack put in an encouraging display to restrict Durham's batsmen on the first day of a two-day friendly at Headingley Carnegie.

The visitors, who won the toss and elected to bat, had reached 178 for five courtesy of 49 from Ben Harmison and 29 each by Will Smith and Kyle Coetzer when the rain arrived just after tea.

Durham had only arrived back from their pre-season tour of South Africa yesterday afternoon and included the likes of England one-day wicketkeeper Phil Mustard, Gordon Muchall, Liam Plunkett and stand-in captain Steve Harmison.

But Yorkshire's bowling attack, with an average age of just over 21, was led admirably by Richard Pyrah's two for 31 off 16 overs.

Rookie stars Ben Sanderson and James Lee also picked up a wicket apiece, as did leg-spinner Mark Lawson.

Lawson was the only bowler who got some treatment. His first over went for 12 thanks to two successive Coetzer boundaries.

But in the end it probably helped him get the wicket because Coetzer tried to be aggressive again in his next over and could only miscue to Ajmal Shahzad at point.

Captain Darren Gough, England's Matthew Hoggard, Deon Kruis, Tim Bresnan and Adil Rashid will all return to the fold as early as next week to add more experience.

Overseas duo Morne Morkel and Rana Naved-ul-Hasan will also play some part later in the season.

But coach Martyn Moxon will be delighted to know that his young bowlers can do the job if they are ever required to step in.

In terms of the whole side, Moxon has only included two capped players - temporary captain Joe Sayers and South African Kolpak batsman Jacques Rudolph.

Anthony McGrath, Craig White, Gerard Brophy, Chris Taylor and England skipper Michael Vaughan will also return.

The only blots on the copybook were three dropped catches - but it is only pre-season and freezing cold!

Ben Harmison looked solid early on, sharing an opening stand of 51 with Smith, but from then on Yorkshire edged back into the game, later reducing the visitors from 113 for two to 155 for five.

Weather permitting, it remains to be seen what will happen tomorrow. Durham could declare before the start, or they could throw the bat for half an hour and then pull out.

Whatever happens, Yorkshire will bat and Test outcast Steve Harmison will bowl in match conditions for the first time since early March.

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