Hampshire too strong for Durham

HAMPSHIRE may be languishing in the second division of the main event, but they showed yesterday why they are the current one-day kings as they beat Durham by five wickets at the Ageas Bowl.

Under their new 40-over captain Mark Stoneman, Durham were unfortunate to lose a crucial toss on a day when batting conditions steadily improved.

They were put in after rain delayed the start by 45 minutes, reducing the match to 36 overs a side, and slipped to 45 for four before Ben Stokes thrashed 87 off 71 balls, with four sixes.

With Stokes at his blistering best and Will Smith weighing in with the perfect cameo of 50 off 35 balls, Durham did extremely well to reach 241 for eight.

Smith, who replaced injured one-day skipper Dale Benkenstein, then bowled the first over and had James Vince stumped with his second ball.

But a second-wicket stand of 133 in 18 overs between Michael Carberry and Jimmy Adams put the holders well on the way to a victory which they achieved with five balls to spare.

Carberry went on to make 96 before edging to Phil Mustard when trying to hit a four with the scores level, leaving Liam Dawson to complete the job with an unbeaten 37 off 21 balls.

It was a day when some of Durham's big guns failed to fire. Paul Collingwood was bowled off an inside edge for six and conceded 22 off two overs, while Graham Onions opened up with a five-over spell which cost 32 runs.

It left Stoneman short of bowling options as Stokes has not yet fully recovered from his back injury and Gareth Breese was again ruled out by his side strain.

That meant Ryan Pringle was retained and he impressed by making 26 before beating left-hander Carberry three times in his second over.

The opener was on 35 at the time, but he reached a 39-ball half-century by pulling Mark Wood for six.

Wood then tried a double bluff by posting a deep mid-off then banging another ball in short, but that also disappeared over the mid-wicket rope.

At 126 for one after 18 overs when Scott Borthwick came on Hampshire were going strongly but the leg-spinner hauled Durham back into it by taking two wickets.

He had Adams caught at mid-wicket for 67, bringing in Australia's

Twenty20 captain George Bailey, who made only 13 before edging Borthwick to Collingwood at slip.

Pringle returned to bowl in tandem with Borthwick and kept it tight, bowling eight overs for 40 runs, which persuaded Stoneman to bring back Smith when 63 were needed off seven overs.

The gamble failed as Carberry reverse-swept a four and 11 came off the over to spark Hampshire's victory charge.

Although Chris Rushworth returned to have Sean Ervine caught at backward point, Dawson emerged to capitalise on the fielding restrictions enforced by the bowling powerplay.

Hampshire needed 39 off four overs, but Wood was preferred to Onions and came in for more punishment whenever he dropped short.

In Durham's innings Stoneman scored 29 of the 34 runs which were scored in the first six overs, hitting four off-side fours off Dimitri Mascarenhas, who had just returned from his one appearance in the IPL.

Stoneman fell for 32 when a gentle dab carried all the way into the hands of third man and there were no more boundaries until the 17th over, when Stokes went down the pitch to drive David Griffiths for the first of his six fours.

As he consolidated in partnership with Gordon Muchall, Stokes scored only 12 off the first 27 balls he faced before racing to 50 off 51.

When Danny Briggs was introduced he reverse swept him for four then launched a huge six over long-on.

Hampshire gambled by bringing on their other left-arm spinner, Dawson, a little over two years after Stokes hit him for five sixes off the first five balls of an over on this ground.

Muchall shaped to turn Dawson's third ball to leg and gave him a return catch, but Stokes continued his onslaught as he took 16 off Dawson's third over, including two driven sixes.

But after scooping a four to fine leg off Ervine he over-balanced when going for a repeat and was stumped.

Smith had contributed 12 to the stand of 52, but accelerated impressively as he split the off-side fielders perfectly to take two successive fours off Chris Wood.

He then drove and swept two fours off Briggs and reached his 50 off 34 balls with a six over extra cover off David Griffiths in the final over before stepping across and being bowled by the next ball.

Smith had put on 74 with Pringle in 7.3 overs and when he removed the dangerous Vince it looked like being Durham's day. But it wasn't to be.

SCORECARD

Hampshire v Durham
At The Ageas Bowl

Durham
M D Stoneman c Griffiths b Wood ........32
P Mustard lbw b Mascarenhas ............. 1
S G Borthwick c Adams b Wood .......... 3
P D Collingwood b Griffiths .................. 6
B A Stokes st Wheater b Wood ............87
G J Muchall c & b Dawson ...................12
W R Smith b Griffiths ............................50
R D Pringle c Adams b Griffiths ............26
M A Wood not out ................................ 4
G Onions not out .................................. 0
Extras (b10 lb5 w3 nb2 ) .........20
Total 8 wkts Innings Complete (36 overs) 241
Fall: 1-12 2-23 3-43 4-45 5-111 6-163 7-237
8-240
Did Not Bat: C Rushworth.
Bowling: Wood 8-0-37-3. Mascarenhas 7-
0-33-1. Griffiths 6-0-42-3. Ervine 5-0-33-0.
Briggs 6-0-51-0. Dawson 4-0-30-1.

Hampshire
J M Vince st Mustard b W R Smith ....... 0
M A Carberry c Mustard b Wood ..........96
J H Adams c Wood b Borthwick ...........67
G J Bailey c Collingwood b Borthwick ..13
S M Ervine c Muchall b Rushworth .......18
L A Dawson not out ..............................37
A J Wheater not out ............................. 0
Extras (b1 lb3 w7)....................11
Total 5 wkts (35.1 overs)........242
Fall: 1-0 2-133 3-161 4-202 5-241
Did Not Bat: A D Mascarenhas, C P Wood,
D R Briggs, D A Griffiths.
Bowling: W R Smith 3-0-22-1. Onions 5-0-
32-0. Rushworth 5.1-1-28-1. Pringle 8-0-
40-0. Collingwood 2-0-22-0. Wood 5-0-50-
1. Borthwick 7-0-44-2.

Hampshire beat Durham by 5 wkts