Ben Stokes takes wickets on County Championship return for Durham

Lancashire captain Keaton Jennings hit a century and Ben Stokes returned to take two wickets for Durham on a closely-contested day one in Blackpool.

Jennings made 115 to set a good platform for the hosts and Saqib Mahmood’s counting-attacking 40 not out saw them close on 350-9 at Stanley Park.

Playing his first County Championship match for two years, Stokes took 2-70 with Ben Raine claiming 3-67 and Matthew Potts chipping in with 2-94 for Durham.

The England captain got through 17 overs in his first appearance since March as he continues to build up his fitness before the start of the Test summer.

The home side got off to a positive start after being asked to bat first on a grey morning in Blackpool, with Jennings quickly getting into his stride.

An opening stand of 87 with Luke Wells was broken by Potts before lunch but Lancashire pushed on again as Josh Bohannon joined Jennings in the middle.

With the sun breaking through and another partnership building, the home side looked well set, only for Stokes to find the breakthrough with a seemingly unthreatening short ball that Bohannon top-edged to deep backward square.

Jennings kicked on to bring up his second hundred of the season, from 138 balls, but he fell to Callum Parkinson soon after as wickets began to tumble at regular intervals.

Tom Bruce made 46 before he popped up a simple return catch to Stokes as Durham worked their way into the tail.

Lancashire slipped to 303-8 but Mahmood’s rally dragged them to another batting bonus point before he and Nathan Lyon batted out the last couple of overs.