Yorkshire must bat all day today at the Riverside against Durham if they are to avoid defeat.

Michael Di Venuto helped the hosts cruise clear of the Tykes with a powerfully made and rapidly struck century.

The Australian was in imperious form, putting Yorkshire to the sword with a potentially match-winning innings of 143 that quickly sapped the life out of the field.

Will Smith assisted him admirably for 67 in a second-wicket stand of a staggering 204 after Matthew Hoggard had trapped Mark Stoneman lbw to reduce Durham to nought for one.

At that stage Yorkshire were trailing by 90 but Di Venuto faced up to his first ball of the innings and provided an ominous indication of what was to come by cutting Tim Bresnan to the boundary.

His hundred was scored off 125 balls and included no fewer than 14 effortlessly dispatched fours that were executed with a wide selection of outstanding shots.

The Tykes were given one chance to get rid of him when on 42, but luck has been against them this week and so it was no surprise when the only edge Di Venuto offered all day was too thick for Jacques Rudolph at first slip and too thin for Anthony McGrath at third as it frustratingly bissected the pair on its way to the fence.

It was Adil Rashid who eventually removed Di Venuto when he offered a tired-looking clip to mid-on where Bresnan lunged forward to pouch a low catch.

Durham had lost Smith shortly beforehand but from 233-3, a half-century from Gordon Muchall and a brief cameo of 22 from Dale Benkenstein allowed the hosts to declare on 303-5 with a lead of 393.

Rudolph and Joe Sayers survived the four overs to the close and made three runs between them so they will return today with Yorkshire in need of an epic show of resistance to force a positive outcome.

Earlier the Tykes resumed on 264-6, but lost their remaining four wickets for only eight runs as the tail was torn apart in under an hour.