TIM Bresnan continued his excellent form with the bat to strengthen Yorkshire's grip on their ongoing Specsavers County Championship match against title rivals Durham at Emirates Riverside.

The all-rounder's patient 63 was a key part of Yorkshire's 323 in reply to the hosts' 172 on day two.

It was his second successive Championship fifty and one of three in the innings following 71 for Alex Lees and Gary Ballance's fluent 78.

Durham started their second innings immediately after tea 151 runs behind with 36 overs left in the day and they closed on 98-3, still 53 behind and with work to do to avoid a three-day defeat.

Bresnan said: "That's another day in our column. To get past them was a good effort on that wicket.

"To get a 100 lead was magnificent but to get 150 ahead was something that, at the start of the day, we'd have snapped your hand off for."

Bresnan, who hit six fours in 124 balls, later struck to get Mark Stoneman caught and bowled for 28 before Adam Lyth bowled key man Scott Borthwick for just four with one that kept low.

Bresnan's form with the bat in the Championship has seen him score 1,010 runs in 25 innings since the start of last season.

He has hit six fifties and two hundreds at an average of 50.50. His career-best 169 not out even came in the same fixture at Durham last June.

"I've found my own technique with the bat – I try and stand as still as I can and react to the ball, really," he said.

"Actually hitting the ball and looking to score is as technical as it gets for me. It's just about keeping it very simple."

Although not in trouble at 236-8 at lunch, given Yorkshire's lead of 54, there was a glimmer of hope for Durham that they could limit the damage.

But Bresnan shared 43 runs inside 20 overs with Josh Shaw for the ninth wicket, with the latter player hitting a career-best 24 not out in his eighth Championship match – his first for Yorkshire.

He then added 44 inside 13 overs with Ben Coad, the other White Rose debutant, for the tenth wicket after Shaw had been bowled trying to pull a long-hop from Borthwick.

Bresnan turned down the odd single to keep the strike but Coad posted a valuable 17 before his partner clipped Irishman Barry McCarthy to deep mid-wicket to end the Yorkshire innings just before tea.

Yorkshire had started the day on 129-4 and they were in front inside the first half an hour of play thanks to the positive batting of Ballance and Andrew Gale, who shared 68 inside 14 overs for the fifth wicket.

Ballance hit 11 fours in 114 balls, while Gale added 28 to a partnership which proved key to setting up the dominant day.

It was also an early indication that batting conditions had eased following 14 wickets on day one – but there is still enough help for the seamers, especially through uneven bounce.

Steve Patterson added Jack Burnham lbw for eight to the wickets for Bresnan and Lyth after tea, although Keaton Jennings stood firm for 46 not out.

Bresnan said: "There's definitely something there all the time with the harder ball."