GRAEME Bridge left Bristol at 3am on Saturday to be with his partner when she gave birth to a girl.

The baby was slightly premature and Durham had gambled on completing the game against Gloucestershire before her arrival.

"We took a bit of a risk," admitted coach Martyn Moxon. "Graeme was prepared to travel home for the birth and come back again if necessary, but the timing didn't quite work out."

Bridge was on tenterhooks for most of Friday, when physio Nigel Kent was looking after his mobile phone while he was on the field.

It is not the first time Durham have batted a man short for paternity reasons as James Brinkley was absent when they were all out for 102 in their second innings at Edgbaston in May, 2001.

IT WAS during that early 2001 innings that Melvyn Betts took five for 22 against his native county, which remain his best figures for Warwickshire.

His career there has gone steadily downhill and the word from Edgbaston is that he will be released at the end of his three-year contract and has little inclination to continue a first-class career which promised much before his defection from Durham.

It has been a sad decline for a bowler who still possesses three of the best four first-class analyses for Durham, led by his nine for 64 at Northamtpon in 1997.

He also had seven for 29 against Kent at Darlington that year and seven for 30 against Derbyshire at the same venue three years later.

At his best, his fast away swing was lethal and had people like David Boon and bowling coach Geoff Arnold tipping him to play for England. Obviously, leaving his native Sacriston has done him no favours.

DURHAM were unable to select Vince Wells at Bristol because he was called to give evidence in the employment tribunal involving his former Leicestershire teammates Neil Burns and Carl Crowe.

They claimed the county had not gone through the proper procedures before releasing them at the end of last season.

After a five-day hearing an out-of-court settlement was reached and the tribunal panel made no judgement, but the players' solicitor claimed that the principle that cricketers should be treated the same as other employees had been established.

The overriding impression, however, was the whole thing could have been avoided. Wells would fr rather have been on the cricket field, although it is not certain that he would have been selected as he had just recovered from his wrist injury.

MARTIN Love scored only ten runs fewer than Jonty Rhodes in Durham's match against Gloucestershire, but while the South African brought down the curtain on his stay at Bristol with two centuries Love fell just short in both innings.

He completed a remarkable sequence in which he has never failed to reach 50 against Gloucestershire in seven championship knocks, but has never reached three figures.

In his only innings against them last year he made 78 at Riverside and the previous season he had scores of 61,70,67 and 52 not out.

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