JUST when Durham's home-grown talent was suppressing the imported enthusiasm of Nottinghamshire a Cornishman took two wickets to leave a truncated first day evenly balanced at Riverside.

Gary Pratt and Nicky Peng had put on 87 for the fourth wicket when Charlie Shreck had Pratt lbw the ball after reaching 50 then bowled Gavin Hamilton in his next over.

Rain had never seemed far away and it duly arrived two overs later with Durham on 175 for five after being put in, with the impressive Peng unbeaten on 48.

Following his scores of 49 and 66 in the defeat at Hampshire, Peng again looked as though he had a very clear idea of how to build an innings.

Coming in when Durham had slipped from 40 without loss to 71 for three, he took 16 balls to get off the mark then hit Paul Franks for three cracking fours.

Two of them were whipped past square leg with the style and timing of a high-class performer, and he added seven more boundaries.

Pratt, whose winter in Australia has been disrupted by injury, looked less assured early on but forged ahead after a brief break for rain came with both batsmen on 30.

Most of Pratt's eight fours came through the off-side in his 120-ball innings and it was a surprise when he was lbw to a yorker length ball from Shreck.

Despite being 6ft 7in, the former Cornwall seamer never threatened to extract any lift from the pitch and his three victims were all left-handers deceived by full-length balls moving into them.

The one which beat Marcus North's defensive push was not as full as the others and bounced sufficiently to raise questions about whether it would have gone over the top. Umpire Mervyn Kithcen thought not.

Hamilton was looking to drive and lost his leg stump, with his reaction suggesting instant realisation that in the gloomy conditions a more circumspect approach would have been wiser.

Durham stood by the team which lost to Hampshire, opting not to risk Gareth Breese, who will get in some match practice by playing for Chester-le-Street at Tynemouth on Saturday.

Although the West Indies all-rounder has now been cleared to play, the fact that his registration was queried last week did not go down well at Durham at a time when other counties are stuffed with EU-qualifed overseas men.

Two of them, South Africans Kevin Pietersen and Greg Smith, yesterday began their third seasons of championship cricket with Nottinghamshire, who have Australians David Hussey and leg-spinner Stuart MacGill as their official overseas men.

Hussey was originally signed as back-up for Damien Martyn, whose contract has now been cancelled as he has a back injury and will later be required for Australian tours.

MacGill, Shane Warne's understudy, yesterday opted out of the tour to Zimbabwe next month on moral grounds so Nottinghamshire could have him for the full season.

They included new signing Mark Ealham, from Kent, but not Ryan Sidebottom, who is recovering from a back injury.

Durham were confident of landing Sidebottom, and coach Martyn Moxon was disappointed when his former Yorkshire colleague opted for the extra cash available at Trent Bridge.

The visitors have also signed Anurag Singh from Worcestershire, who will have to battle with Darren Bicknell and Russell Warren for a place in the top three.

Whoever plays, there will be little sign of the sort of home-grown talent Durham had on display yesterday in the shape of Pratt and Peng. They came together on the departure of Gordon Muchall, who seemed to have settled after a shaky start when he edged a rare good ball from Franks to the wicketkeeper.

There had been no problems in the opening 45 minutes as North hit six classy fours in his 27 and Jon Lewis was also untroubled.

The captain had just cut left-armer Smith for his third boundary when the next ball surprised him by cutting in and bowling him off his pads.

Perhaps it was a deliberate tactic by Smith to lure batsmen into a false sense of security as he bowled Pratt a juicy full toss which was despatched through extra cover for four then beat him with a beauty next ball.

The conditions looked well suited to Ealham's medium pace swingers, but the Durham youngsters played him well and two big shouts for lbw against Pratt were the closest he came to any reward.

Franks delivered a mixed bag, while MacGill bowled the first over after lunch and was promptly taken off after conceding nine runs.

Peng swept him immaculately in front of square for four, but two overs later the players went off in rain so light the public address man felt compelled to offer an explanation.

"Rain is affecting the ball," he said, which suggested Nottinghamshire didn't fancy bowling with anything which wasn't bone dry.

Five minutes later they were back on and 34 runs were added with considerable comfort before Shreck's double strike was swiftly followed by proper rain.

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