Bottom-of-the-table Durham got off to the worst possible start in their LV= County Championship Division One clash with Middlesex and were 61 for six at lunch at Chester-le-Street.
Tim Murtagh saw off both openers, Will Stoneman (nought) and Mark Stoneman (15), and ran out number-three batsman Gordon Muchall (six) in between for good measure.
Ben Stokes failed to trouble the scorers and then Dale Benkenstein and captain Paul Collingwood hung around for a while but soon also departed for 18 and 16 respectively, leaving Michael Richardson (six not out) and Scott Borthwick (one not out) with much to do this afternoon.
In contrast, Warwickshire's openers got the leaders off to the perfect start against Surrey at Edgbaston. They were 104 for nought at the interval, Varun Chopra having reached 52 off 91 balls and Ian Westwood unbeaten on 31.
Sussex had recovered to 69 for two by lunch against Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge, Luke Wells (27no) and Murray Goodwin (18no) steadying the ship after the early dismissals of Chris Nash (15) and Ed Joyce (seven).
