Durham Diary

The fact is that in three of the last four seasons five wins have been enough to clinch third place and in 2001 Warwickshire went up with 185.75 points, only 20.75 more than Durham have now, with five games left.

The exception was 2002, when Worcestershire had seven wins but finished fourth on 200 points, so that's the minimum Durham need to aim for, which means an average of seven points a game.

They are 37 points ahead of fourth-placed Essex, the team they visit this week, and as Durham still have three of the bottom four to play at home I don't see that gap closing.

Playing at home, however, is still something they don't particularly relish, with Paul Collingwood modestly pointing out that his recent centuries have all been scored on good pitches. "You never get used to batting at Riverside. It's a difficult place to play," he said.

After ten days away and a long trek back from Taunton on Friday night, Durham will be back on the road early tomorrow so they can get a good look at the new ground at Southend before Wednesday's start.

Garons Park is the home of Southend Leisure and Tennis Centre and has never been used for a second X1 match, never mind a first-class game, so it will be very interesting to see how it plays.

Essex had threatened that every home pitch would be a turner after Danish Kaneria's arrival, but they may have changed their minds after he set a record for the highest number of wicketless overs in a County Championship innings. The Pakistani's figures in the high-scoring draw at Old Trafford were none for 208 in 70.2 overs.

PROMOTION is looking much less certain in the totesport League, in which Durham have been overtaken by Sussex and Warwickshire since going back to the top through their floodlit win at Derby 12 days ago.

Such is the crazy scheduling that Durham at that point had played four games more than Yorkshire, who have since lost a match, so the biggest threat is coming from Leicestershire, who are Durham's next totesport visitors. That's the floodlit match on August 16, by which time Durham will have gone four weeks without a game in the competition.

At least they can fit in some one-day practice against Bangladesh A at Riverside next Sunday, although there will obviously be a temptation to rest several players if they haven't arrived back from Southend until late the previous night.

This can be seen as another case of crazy scheduling, although the prime example is that, despite their double in the championship, Durham still have to play Somerset home and away in the totesport.

Given that it's a 325-mile trip from Chester-le-Street to Taunton this really is beyond the pale, the only excuse for not staying on for an extra day at the weekend being the Twenty20 finals, which Somerset just happened to have reached.

In fact they won the event, providing further evidence of how the teams struggling in the championship can miraculously pick themselves up for the shallow, superficial version of the game. Leicestershire were also in the semis, and even Derbyshire reached the quarters.

To make matters even worse, Durham are back at Taunton on August 21 and the following day they are due at Scarborough for a Twenty20 friendly against Yorkshire. At least that's an evening match.

Talking of Bangladesh A, there's a player in their squad named Syed Rasel, not Sid Russell as appeared on one website.

IT has been confirmed that Mick Lewis can stay for Durham's home championship match against Leicestershire, starting on August 12, before he returns to Australia to give evidence in the David Hookes trial.

There are three games after that - against Yorkshire at Scarborough and at home to Derbyshire and Northants - for which Durham are seeking a replacement overseas bowler. Coach Martyn Moxon said: "It's proving slightly difficult, but we have enquired about a couple of people and I'm waiting to hear back from an agent."

GARETH Breese removed 21-year-old Malaysia-born Arul Suppiah twice at Taunton, but he almost had him for two instead of 20 in the first innings. He played the ball on to his stumps and dislodged a bail without it falling to the ground. Whether Breese was jumping up and down out of joy believing he had taken another wicket or in an effort to persuade the bail to fall, I'm not sure.

SOMERSET'S scorer, Gerry Stickley, a former first-class umpire, is awaiting a hip replacement and was relying heavily on a crutch last week so a local scribe went to a joke shop and asked for a Long John Silver parrott.

"There's one right behind you," was the reply and it spent the next two days perched on Gerry's shoulder. "I get the feeling it's watching everything I write down," he said.