Depleted Durham toil

After missing the first five championship matches with a side strain, Brown is suffering from swelling in the knee on which he had an operation three years ago.

He was clearly struggling in his second spell on the first day of this match on Friday and is to see a doctor to discover the extent of the damage.

In his absence Mark Wagh took full advantage of a depleted Durham attack for the second time this season as Warwickshire batted Durham out of the game at the Riverside.

In the clash at Edgbaston in early May the 24-year-old former Oxford University captain made 104 in the second innings when James Brinkley was attending the birth of his daughter.

This time he cracked 112 as the visitors piled up 324 for six declared to set Durham a target of 404. In seven overs last night they reached seven without loss.

Melvyn Betts will be striving to add to the four for 78 he took against his former teammates in their first innings of 231.

This total was all the more disappointing because Warwickshire's bowling spearhead, Vasbert Drakes, also had a knee injury, suffered when his studs stuck in the turf while playing football after Friday's play.

Although the regulations are unlikely to allow him to bowl before tea, the visitors are hoping he will be fit to take some of the load off their other three seamers, who performed manfully on Saturday to keep Durham on a tight rein.

Martin Love and Paul Collingwood both got into the 60s but were tied down by Alan Richardson and Dougie Brown, who both bowled 29 overs without showing any sign of flagging.

Although they took only one wicket each the pressure they created resulted in Durham subsiding from 134 for two.

Betts removed Love and Nicky Peng with successive balls and Durham's hopes of building a lead vanished when off spinner Neil Smith took two wickets in the last half hour.

Danny Law's habit of offering leg-side catches continued as he chipped straight to the man positioned specially for the purpose, 15 yards from the bat between mid-wicket and mid-on.

Then Collingwood sat back to cut and chopped the ball into his stumps after grafting with great patience for his 69.

The remaining three wickets added only 23 yesterday with Brown coming in at No 11.

He made two before his fierce straight drive was deflected into the non-striker's stumps by bowler Neil Smith, running out the unfortunate Nicky Hatch for 12.

Hatch beat Michael Powell's forward defensive stroke to hit his middle stump in the first over of Warwickshire's second innings, but that was as good as it got for Durham.

Law had Nick Knight lbw playing across the line for 25 and bowled David Hemp for 14, but a stand of 99 between Wagh and Dominic Ostler set up the chance of an evening declaration.

Nicky Phillips posed little threat, other than when Ostler went down the pitch on 20 and the ball beat everything to go for four byes.

Michael Gough turned the ball more when he was belatedly introduced and ended Wagh's innings when he was caught at the wicket attempting to cut.

His three sixes all came off Phillips between mid-wicket and long-on, two of them in an over in which he moved from 87 to 103.

His century also included 14 fours, featuring several classical straight drives and some dismissive pulls.

Ostler, on 34 at tea, took up the cudgels when Wagh was out shortly afterwards, putting on 86 in 15 overs with Dougie Brown.

Ostler went to his 50 with a six over mid-wicket off Gough and drove another over long-off off Phillips.

He was within sight of his second century of the match when he tried to hit Collingwood over mid-off and sliced to substitute Jimmy Daley at point.

Brown took 15 off a Phillips over shortly before the declaration and finished unbeaten on 67, scored off 64 balls.

After today Durham's only cricket in the next 12 days are one-day matches next Sunday and the following Wednesday. Stephen Harmison will be fit by the weekend and it is hoped Neil Killeen will also have proved his fitness in time for the C and G Trophy fourth round tie at Bristol.