Durham’s David Bedingham again proved the thorn in Northamptonshire’s side as he scored an unbeaten 57 on the opening day of this Rothesay County Championship clash at Wantage Road.

Division Two leaders Durham slumped to 16 for 2 after seven overs before the South African international set to work. He picked up where he had left off during his match-winning century against the Steelbacks at Chester-le-Street in June and passed 1,000 first-class runs for the season along the way.

Fellow promotion hopefuls Northamptonshire claimed their first bowling bonus point as Durham closed on 129 for 3 on a day limited to 30.5 overs by bad light and rain. Former Indian international Mayank Agarwal, playing his first game for Durham, finished unbeaten on 25.

Earlier Durham won the toss and elected to bat and amid a rain-interrupted morning, Luke Procter struck early when he jagged one back to knock two of Ben McKinney’s stumps out of the ground. Will Rhodes followed next over when he was run out by a sensational direct hit from James Sales.

Durham rebuilt as Bedingham joined skipper Alex Lees in a stand of 59 in almost 15 overs either side of lunch. Bedingham played fluently against the seamers, clipping off his legs and driving crisply through the covers, but Northamptonshire’s slow bowlers started to pose problems before lunch, finding some sharp turn.

Leg-spinners Yuzi Chahal and Calvin Harrison bowled in tandem after the interval with Chahal striking immediately to trap Lees lbw for 24.

Agarwal collected boundaries from the first two balls he faced from Chahal, driving through midwicket and dabbing down to deep-third, but scoring dried up as the two spinners exerted control.

Agarwal eased the pressure momentarily when he struck Harrison straight back over his head for six before rain forced the players to leave the field until 5pm.

Soon after the resumption, Bedingham brought up his 50 when he played Chahal into the off-side for two, while Agarwal swept Harrison behind square for four.

But after just over 10 minutes of play, the skies clouded over again and the umpires took the players off for the final time.