AFTER struggling to hit the mown strip in his first two spells today Steve Harmison made it third time lucky, picking up two wickets as Lancashire slipped to 206 for five at tea.
Following a couple of short looseners in his third spell, Harmison surprised Mark Chilton with a full-length straight ball, which the batsman played across and fell lbw.
It was a key wicket as the experienced Chilton had looked perfectly at home on a pitch which had become extremely placid following the fall of 20 wickets on the first day.
Four overs later Steven Croft sliced a low catch off Harmison to Callum Thorp at gully and four wickets had gone down in 75 minutes after Durham enjoyed only one success in the morning. Luke Procter and Gareth Cross then stayed together until tea, adding 27 to stretch Lancashire’s lead to 104.
Chilton needed to do little more than lean into his drives to guide the ball wide of mid-off and mid-on. But he was the third batsman to be out lbw after looking comfortable.
The first two were clearly unhappy with the decisions, although umpire Mark Benson had no hesitation in the third over after the break when a ball from Thorp was adjudged to have brushed Paul Horton’s pad marginally before it hit the bat.
The opener departed for 64 and Karl Brown followed for 37, although this time Steve Garratt pondered for several seconds before upholding Ian Blackwell’s appeal.
Blackwell deserved the wicket as he had troubled Brown largely through variations of pace as there was little evidence of turn.
He also thought he had Croft lbw first ball but the right-hander drove the next delivery to the cover boundary and also lifted Blackwell over mid-wicket for six in making 26.
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