YOUNG bucks Liam Plunkett and Mark Davies bowled Durham into pole position at the Rose Bowl yesterday, only for lack of faith in the back-up bowling to prove their undoing.

At 52 for seven chasing 109 to win, Hampshire were on the point of capsizing. But the score had advanced to 81 before the first bowling change of the innings came after 31 overs.

Reon King replaced Davies and once he had conceded nine in his first over Hampshire were sailing serenely to a three-wicket win.

Durham's swift decline from jubilation to misery was capped by the news that they had lost one of their three points for bowling their overs too slowly.

The situation was tailor-made for Dimitri Mascarenhas, whose bold strokes punished the flagging seamers as he and Will Kendall shared an unbroken stand of 60 in 12 overs.

As in his first spell in the first innings, King bowled too many short balls outside off stump. He also lived down to his reputation in the field and looks like a temporary signing of convenience Durham could have done without.

Only four were needed when Gavin Hamilton replaced Plunkett, who had taken four for 48 in 18 overs, including the prime wickets of John Crawley and Australian Michael Clarke.

Kendall skied a hook at Hamilton's second ball to deep backward square leg, where King was too slow to make the catch.

King's first ball of the next over was hooked for the winning boundary by Mascarenhas, who finished on 33, and minutes later "glory, glory we are Hampshire" was being sung in the home dressing room, no doubt led by skipper Shane Warne.

Durham coach Martyn Moxon said: "It was a fantastic effort by our two young bowlers. They were both superb all match.

"It was a tricky situation where they were getting a bit tired and it was difficult to decide how long to keep them going when we didn't have many runs to play with.

"The captain thought there was always a wicket in them, but through a bit of fatigue they bowled the odd loose ball which gave Hampshire momentum. It's very disappointing after getting into a winning position.

"Reon King needs a few overs under his belt. He didn't bowl as well as he would have liked."

Moxon added that the pitch had not played anywhere near as well as Durham had expected when they chose to bat.

"It's been difficult to bat on all game and the surface has worn," he said. "But I was really pleased with Nicky Peng's two innings. His concentration level was good and he looked very solid. I hope it's a good sign for him for the rest of the summer."

Play began an hour late following Sunday's downpour with Hampshire on 13 for two after five overs and two nightwatchmen at the crease in Chris Tremlett and Billy Taylor.

Tremlett cracked Davies through the covers for four off the back foot in the first over and repeated it two overs later.

But otherwise only five singles came in 13.3 overs before rain arrived and three wickets had gone down to leave Hampshire reeling on 26 for five.

After the initial looseners Davies and Plunkett both bowled very accurately and Davies beat left-hander Taylor four times in one over before skidding one through to bowl Tremlett.

Crawley couldn't settle against Plunkett, edging him first bounce into Hamilton's unmentionables at third slip, which was a source of amusement to everyone except Hamilton. Two deliveries later a yorker length ball hit Crawley on the boot in front of middle stump and he was gone for nought.

Clarke was nothing like the free-scoring batsman of the first innings and, after sending for a new bat, he saw his off stump knocked out next ball by the lively Plunkett, who was 19 last week.

Rain drove the players off before Nic Pothas got to the crease, but on the resumption he got off the mark by edging Plunkett for four.

Taylor drove at Plunkett and edged to Andrew Pratt to make it 39 for six, then Pothas thrust his pad straight down the pitch to fall lbw to the jubilant Davies.

Both bowlers continued to get the occasional ball past the bat, but their luck had run out and once Mascarenhas started to find the boundary the game quickly ran away from Durham. They will now hope that Riverside is fit to start their home campaign against Nottinghamshire tomorrow.

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