ON the day when the first lbw decision was given by a third official in the ICC Trophy in Sri Lanka, the umpires at Durham's Riverside ground remained stuck in a time warp.

There is a general observation of umpires in county cricket that they are quick to get the players off and slow to get them back on, while flexibility is not in their vocabulary.

Until they allowed Michael Gough and Gary Pratt to put on 36 in the afternoon gloom, Mike Harris and Tony Clarkson had stuck rigidly to time-honoured conformity, which did not endear them to the Durham members.

There was some appeasement when they reached a sensible compromise at 5pm, allowing play to continue for 17 overs with spin at both ends. But there were still a few jeers when they went off at seven minutes to six with Durham on 99 for four in reply to 463 and Gough unbeaten on 41.

After Wednesday's blissful weather, the season of mists descended and it was announced that play would begin half an hour late if the light did not deteriorate.

Why half an hour; why not as soon as the light permitted? Why can cricket not start unless the big hand is pointing to nought, 15, 30 or 45? When play did get underway, Essex captain Paul Grayson clipped Ian Hunter's first two balls to the mid-wicket boundary and at the end of the over the umpires offered the batsmen the light.

As Essex are chasing promotion, they not surprisingly opted to stay on - a decision greeted by applause from the crowd.

But Stephen Harmison appeared to take it as a personal insult that batsmen should feel safe against him when all five bad light indicator lamps were shining.

After he had sent down five short balls in his second over, hitting Grayson on the helmet, the umpires decided to ignore Essex's wishes and led the players off in the interests of general safety.

An early lunch was taken at 12.30, but in the 15 minutes after the break ended there was only a brief sighting of umpire Clarkson wafting his light metre around in the gloom beneath the hospitality balcony. When they did venture to the middle just before 1.30 a decision was quickly taken that play was possible, but instead of an immediate resumption we had to wait until 1.45.

Resuming on 382 for five, Essex were now in a hurry and in the third over Grayson drove Hunter to Gary Pratt at cover. Then James Foster drove Harmison to mid-off and it was left to burly left-hander Jon Dakin to coax Essex to 463 all out with an unbeaten 38.

He was content to play second fiddle while Graham Napier was making 21, but when Ian Pattison replaced Hunter he had the hard-hitting Napier smartly stumped by Andrew Pratt with his second ball.

Pattison also accepted a sharp return chance from James Middlebrook to finish with the best figures of three for 41. When Gary Pratt's throw from deep extra cover ran out a dawdling Joe Grant Essex were all out at 3.10 and after two overs of the Durham innings all five lights were shining again on the scoreboard.

This mattered little against the dross sent down by Dakin, who was never more than a second change bowler with Leicestershire.

Napier initially was little better and the Durham openers, both driving sweetly through the covers, had 36 on the board before Pratt fell in the eighth over.

He got an inside edge into his stumps off Napier and two overs later Brad Hodge pushed forward and was bowled off his pads.

It became 58 for three when Gordon Muchall drove at Grant and edged to the wicketkeeper and when Essex's quickest bowler unwisely greeted Ashley Thorpe with a rapid bouncer the umpires again consulted about the light.

Two overs later they spoke at greater length then told Grayson they would continue if slow bowlers were used, prompting the captain to introduce his own left-arm spin. Off-spinner Middlebrook, another Yorkshireman, came on at the other end, but it was not enough to save Thorpe, who fell for 14 when he pushed forward and edged Grayson to slip.

Pattison kept Gough company to the close, and after his century against these opponents at Colchester Gough will probably need another one today if Durham are to avoid the follow-on.

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