JUBILANT Durham beat Yorkshire for the first time in 11 championship meetings yesterday, dismissing the Tykes for 93 on a Headingley pitch of increasingly variable bounce.

The match-winner was skipper Jon Lewis as much for winning the toss as for batting for a total of 11 hours ten minutes in the match.

His innings of 124 and 66 - the eighth time in ten innings he has passed 50 - made him the country's leading run-scorer with 620 in the championship at an average of 69.8.

To put the value of his efforts into full perspective, Durham's next highest scorer is Michael Gough with 198 at 19.8.

Gough's 43 in an opening stand of 79 proved crucial in stretching a first innings lead of 60 on Saturday evening as it gave Durham a big enough cushion to survive more middle order failures.

The hosts were even more culpable, however. Despite bowling well and fielding with spirit, they gave every impression yesterday that the deep reserves of Yorkshire grit have been exhausted.

Once a ball from Liam Plunkett shot through at ankle height to remove Yuvraj Singh's off stump the Tykes showed little appetite for grafting their way towards a target of 261.

Darren Gough, for example, clearly decided there was no point in hanging around after being rapped on the gloves and after smashing Gordon Muchall over extra cover for six he dragged an ambitious pull into his stumps.

It was clearly unsatisfactory for the pitch to behave so poorly on the third day of what should have been a four-day game, but with a little Lewis-like application Yorkshire might at least have made a fight of it.

Their previous lowest championship total against Durham was 108 at the Racecourse ground in Durham in 1992, when Sachin Tendulkar scored a century in the second innings to win the match.

Even though Durham were a bowler light following Ian Pattison's injury, Durham were able to plug the gap with Muchall taking a career-best three for 26.

Delighted Durham coach Martyn Moxon, enjoying his first win of any kind against his former employers, was in no doubt that Lewis was the real hero.

"We knew batting would be tough and we would have to show bags of application," he said. "The young lads can learn a lot by watching him from the other end, especially the way he keeps his hands close to his body.

"He played and missed a lot, but keeping your hands close reduces the chance of nicking it and he played it to perfection."

Durham's second successive championship win took them up to fifth place in division two, one point behind Yorkshire with a game in hand.

Since thrashing Northamptonshire in their opening match, Yorkshire have come off the rails. Already without Michael Vaughan under his England contract, they were angry that England requested that their captain, Anthony McGrath, should not play in this match. His side strain would not have affected his batting.

But others are not performing. After his good start, acting captain Matthew Wood has reverted to last season's form, bagging a pair in this match when he shouldered arms to Dewald Pretorius in the third over and had his off stump trimmed.

Richard Blakey has also lost the form which saw him score a double century against Northants, while Gary Fellows perished carelessly in both innings.

The average age of the Durham team was 23, and Moxon added: "With a young team believing you can win makes a massive difference.

"Durham haven't often won back-to-back games, so we will enjoy the moment. But we are not getting carried away because there's still a lot of work to do.

"The potential is immense and Liam Plunkett has really impressed in this game.

"He is mature beyond his years - he has a good attitude and wants to do well.

"Gordon Muchall was down after getting out on Saturday evening, but I told him he would still have a part to play. He's a great competitor and when we needed him he produced the goods."

After going from 79 without loss to 99 for three on Saturday evening, leading by 159, Durham needed to avoid a quick continuation of the slide yesterday.

Nightwatchman Nicky Phillips hung around for a while then Nicky Peng batted well for 29 before venturing down the pitch and being stumped in off-spinner Richard Dawson's first over.

Phil Mustard hit four fours in making 20 of the next 22 runs before edging to slip as the last four wickets went down for nine runs.

For the second time in the match Lewis was eighth out when he tried to upper cut Chris Silverwood over the top and miscued to cover.

Yorkshire were always going to struggle after the early departures of Wood and Singh, and it became 18 for three when first innings century-maker Michael Lumb steered Pretorius to Michael Gough at gully. Scott Richardson was adjudged lbw to give Neil Killeen his only wicket of the match, then Muchall gained two lbw verdicts and persuaded Fellows to hoist a catch to long leg.

Pretorius returned to force both Gough and Silverwood to play on, finishing with figures of four for 15. He will be keen to maintain his impressive form when he bows out in the match at Hampshire starting on Wednesday.

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