Warwickshire v Durham (County Championship) : Day Two (No play day one)

THE sheer class of Kumar Sangakarra frustrated Durham yesterday after they won what looked a vital toss at Edgbaston and had Warwickshire reeling on 23 for four.

It was almost as though Brian Lara had come back to haunt them at the scene of his world record 501 as the dapper Sri Lankan left-hander effortlessly took charge of the recovery on his first appearance for Warwickshire.

He scored 48 of their first 56 runs, four of which were leg byes, before Alex Loudon began to plunder the bowling after taking nine overs to get off the mark.

Sangakkara suddenly found himself able to switch to a supporting role as Loudon scored 51 of the next 82 runs, scoring powerfully through the off side off the back foot.

By tea they had transformed the game by adding 134 in 26 overs and both completed centuries as they stretched their stand to 229 before Loudon surprisingly departed six overs from the close.

He pushed forward and edged Dale Benkenstein to slip to fall for 105, his highest score for Warwickshire, although he made 172 for Durham University against Durham in 2003.

Sangakkara remained unbeaten on 137 out of 267 for five at the close after playing with a quiet determination during a pleasant final hour, suggesting he fancies a few more today.

After the loss of four sessions, play began at 1.45 and Durham brought in Gordon Muchall, Ottis Gibson, Mark Davies and Neil Killeen in place of their England trio and Gareth Breese, who was left out with spin not expected to play a part in a truncated game.

Killeen was drafted in because conditions were expected to suit his seam bowling, but Sangakkara drove his first ball through extra cover for four and remained untroubled by any of the bowlers.

His greatest scare came on nine, when he took a quick single into the covers and had to dive for the crease. He may well have been out had Garry Park's shy hit the stumps, but it went for four overthrows.

There were eight other boundaries in Sangakkara's 55-ball half-century, one of which flew over the slips when he drove lavishly at Gibson.

There were a couple of other flamboyant strokes with which he failed to make contact early on, but once he settled down it wasn't difficult to see how he scored 287 for Sri Lanka against South Africa at Colombo last July.

He is also his country's wicketkeeper, but Tim Ambrose will be keeping the gloves here after his excellent start to the season.

Benkenstein won the toss for the fourth time out of four in the championship and within five overs Warwickshire were one for two.

Neither opener had to play at much in a disappointing first three overs, but then both were lbw for ducks, left-hander Ian Westwood offering no stroke to Gibson before Darren Maddy missed a straight, full-length ball from Graham Onions.

After looking out of sorts against Kent, Onions produced a mixture of good and bad balls and picked up two more wickets.

Jonathan Trott sliced a drive low to Gibson at gully then left-hander Jim Troughton edged to Phil Mustard, bringing in Loudon with Warwickshire apparently in disarray.

Davies, who had replaced Gibson, was in his fourth over before Loudon got off the mark with top-edged cut for four over the slips, and from that point the game simply ran away from Durham.

Conditions eased and Benkenstein had to try his own medium pace but 11 came off his first over as Loudon twice drove him to the extra cover boundary.

Onions returned and beat Sangakkara on 68, but the Sri Lankan had moved on to 90 at tea and it was a triumph for Davies to open up with a maiden to him afterwards, helped by a brilliant stop by Muchall at extra cover.

Sangakkara pulled Gibson for his 17th four to reach his century off 137 balls and the batsmen were in such command that shortly afterwards they turned down an offer to go off for bad light.

Loudon needed only three balls more than his partner to complete his second century of the season by cutting Killeen for his 19th four, and with the ground finally bathed in sunshine he was clearly disappointed to get out.

SCORECARD

Warwickshire v Durham at Edgbaston.
Durham Won Toss

Warwickshire First Innings Close
I J Westwood lbw b Gibson 0
D L Maddy lbw b Onions 0
K C Sangakkara not out 137
I J Trott c Gibson b Onions 3
J O Troughton c Mustard b Onions 1
A G Loudon c Di Venuto b Benkenstein 105
J E Anyon not out 9
Extras (lb8 nb4 pens 0) 12
Total 5 wkts (71 overs) 267
Fall: 1-1 2-1 3-19 4-23 5-252
To Bat: T R Ambrose, H H Streak, T D Groenewald,
D W Steyn.
Bowling: Onions 19-5-77-3. Gibson 14-4-62-1.
Davies 14-5-36-0. Killeen 14-2-50-0. Benkenstein
8-4-24-1. W R Smith 2-0-10-0.