IF there is any danger of Durham suffering from vertigo at the top of the second division there was no sign of it at Old Trafford yesterday.

After outplaying Lancashire for two days there was still a possibility that Andrew Flintoff could take the game away from them when he resumed on 42 not out.

When he pulled the third ball of the second over, bowled by Mick Lewis, for four the scores were level and Lancashire still had five wickets standing.

Two balls later Lewis hit the shoulder of Flintoff's bat and the ball flew over gully for his 11th four to complete a 53-ball half-century.

Two overs from Steve Harmison were safely negotiated then a majestic on-drive off Lewis sped to the boundary and things were starting to look ominous.

But then Harmison had Flintoff lbw for 55 and the rest followed meekly, all caught by wicketkeeper Phil Mustard.

Dominic Cork would have been run out taking the risky single which got him off the mark had Gordon Muchall not narrowly missed the stumps.

Five years ago Durham were convinced they had run out Cork early in the innings at Derby in which he went on to make a double century.

But the ex-England all-rounder looked a pale shadow of his former self in this match and his feeble contribution continued when he wafted at a ball from Lewis and edged to Mustard.

Harmison did the rest with a spell of four for 12 in 16 balls. He may have been lucky to get Warren Hegg caught down the leg side, but he produced a beauty to remove left-hander James Anderson and Muthiah Muralitharan had no stomach for the fight.

After backing away and edging Harmison over the slips for four he had an ungainly swing at the next ball and gave Mustard his fourth catch.

Durham had taken the wickets in 9.2 overs and needed 35 to win. Another hundred might have made them sweat on a wearing pitch, but Mike Hussey took ten off the opening over from Anderson.

The first ball was off-driven to the boundary and the second hooked behind square for four, and the only hiccup came when Anderson found extra bounce to have Jon Lewis caught behind for five.

Hussey finished on 26 not out as the runs were scored in 7.1 overs.

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