Despite Dale Benkenstein stepping aside at Durham for new captain Will Smith, the reigning county champions look a good bet to hold on to their coveted trophy, as cricket writer Tim Wellock reports.

DALE Benkenstein’s captaincy undoubtedly played a huge role in Durham winning two trophies over the last two years, so the only reason to doubt their continued success is that he is no longer in charge.

But his own enormous faith in Will Smith should be hugely reassuring both for the new captain and the fans.

Benkenstein said at the end of last season he felt Smith could go on to captain England, and as the technical excellence of Smith’s batting at Lord’s last week surpassed that of Michael Vaughan and Ian Bell, it might not be such fanciful thinking.

Even before that glorious titleclinching day at Canterbury, Benkenstein had indicated he felt it was time to step down. So it wasn’t simply a case of bowing out at the top.

He has, hopefully, helped to create a winning culture which will permit a seamless transition to a bright and enthusiastic new leader.

Smith can count on Benkenstein being there for the next three years, while Michael Di Venuto and new signing Ian Blackwell have also had captaincy experience.

And Gareth Breese has captained Jamaica, although whether his century-making role at Canterbury will secure his place remains to be seen.

A year ago Smith had one season left on his contract and no immediate prospect of getting into the team. The transformation in his fortunes began when he was drafted in for the fourth match at Hove, where he was dropped on five.

Durham were 11 for four when he was joined by Benkenstein and both scored centuries to set up the win which signalled that Durham could relieve Sussex of the title.

Smith scored a double century at Guildford and finished with 925 championship runs at 51.25, becoming only the second Englishman after Paul Collingwood in 2005 to average above 50 for Durham.

The rest of the hierarchy might have wanted Smith, at 26, to have another season of consolidation.

But Benkenstein was in no doubt the former Durham University captain was ready to take over.

He will need his share of luck, but unlike his English predecessors in the role he can count on a squad in which the finely-tuned balance between youth and experience has forged a winning mentality.

Batting at three on difficult early-season pitches did no favours for the last two incumbents, Gordon Muchall and Kyle Coetzer. So Smith’s early form could have a big bearing on how the season unfolds.

Once Shivnarine Chanderpaul becomes available Durham will boast a top seven as formidable as any in the championship.

There was a whisper that the West Indian might squeeze in some games ahead of the Test series if he and his four Caribbean colleagues with Indian Premier League contracts decided not to go to South Africa.

But Durham are not banking on seeing Chanderpaul before early July, leaving Muchall, Coetzer, Breese and Ben Harmison to battle for a middle-order spot until then.

That’s assuming Mark Stoneman nails down his pace alongside Di Venuto and there is no reason to doubt it following their opening stand of 104 against the MCC at Lord’s.

The only question mark over the balance of Durham’s side will be the absence of a specialist spinner if Blackwell’s arrival sidelines Paul Wiseman.

Spin bowling could be seen as the second string to the four-day bow of both Blackwell and Breese, although the left-armer is a more skilled practitioner than he is often given credit for.

It will be interesting to see if Durham embrace the lessons of previous Twenty20 campaigns and lean more heavily on slow bowling.

Some counties have used three spinners and Durham could have the same option, while Blackwell is worth a one-day place for his batting alone. He is a prodigious striker of the ball.

While the threatened escalation of Twenty20 next season fills some of us with dread, Durham’s difficulties in switching from one form of the game to the other will be further tested this year.

The Twenty20 is split into two batches of games, either side of the World Championship, and with three four-day matches inbetween, and another straight afterwards, Durham face a ludicrously hectic schedule from May 25 to July 2, involving 26 days of play. Contrast that with the period May 12-24, in which they will play on only three days.

The fixture list is also disappointing for those members who like to visit one of the more attractive venues in mid-summer.

The four-day away games in June, July and August are at Edgbaston, Headingley, Nottingham and Old Trafford.

Yet again the absolute logic of playing the Yorkshire v Durham championship game at Scarborough has been ignored, although there is a Pro40 meeting there. The only other visit to an outground is for a Pro40 game at Cheltenham.

Durham will do without an official overseas player at the start of the season, but have signed bighitting Australian David Warner for the Twenty20.

The 22-year-old Sydney-born left-hander hit 89 off 43 balls on his T20 international debut against South Africa at a time when he had still to make his firstclass debut.

Coach Geoff Cook, left, said: “The Twenty20 Cup lends itself to a star attraction coming in and we had reasonable success last year with Albie Morkel and Shaun Pollock.

“But it has become incredibly difficult to pin anyone down for any length of time. We thought about signing the new Australian opener Phil Hughes, but it didn’t work out and he is going to Middlesex.”

Muchall’s brother, Paul, has been awarded a development contract, along with fellow academy products Karl Turner and Paul Hindmarch, while leg-spinner Scott Borthwick has been promoted to the full-time staff.

“Scott will have opportunities,” said Cook. “He’s a good fielder and his batting has a lot of potential.

Through Twenty20 people are reawakening to the fact that spinners can be very effective in oneday cricket.”

Borthwick has been to South Africa with England Under 19s and after repairing his relations with Scotland, Coetzer has also been back to his parents’ homeland for the World Cup qualifiers.

Smith, Ben Harmison, Mitch Claydon and Will Gidman spent at least part of the winter playing in Sydney, while Luke Evans was in Perth and Neil Killeen has been adding to his coaching experience in India.

Mark Davies and Liam Plunkett also went to India with the ECB Development squad, only to have the trip cut short after eight days by the Mumbai bombings.

They then teamed up with the senior England squad in Abu Dhabi for a few days, but Cook said: “It was a bit disappointing, especially for Mark.

“After that we tried to keep him ticking over at the excellent level he has always shown, whereas with Liam we have been trying to build his confidence.

“Being in and out of the England team didn’t help him and they tried to change his action quite substantially.

“He has had time to get away from competitive touring and to re-think his goals.

“There have been some really promising signs over the winter.”

After impressing with England A the previous winter, Graham Onions was not selected for the development squad, but took up an invitation to play for a Country Districts team in Sydney from mid-January.

Cook added: “It will have been good for him to go off and do things independently rather than come under the all-consuming ECB banner.”

Although Cook had no particular thoughts of Smith becoming captain when signing him from Nottinghamshire, he said: “He’s confident in his decision-making, which doesn’t come easily to a lot of people.

“He has captained at school and university, and at county level he has served under two terrific guys in Dale and Stephen Fleming at Nottingham.

“So he will have learnt from them.

“Everybody has been practising really hard over the winter. The effort and work ethic of the squad has not diminished at all.”

So after finishing in the top four of all competitions last season, and with Blackwell strengthening the squad, Durham will again set out believing they can win everything.