Wickets tumble after a late night for Durham

Most of the team arrived back from Sunday's NatWest Pro40 League defeat at Canterbury at around 2.30am and fatigue seemed to be setting in as they slipped from 181 for three to 232 all out.

They were wide awake, however, in reducing Surrey from 29 without loss to 42 for five, only for Mark Ramprakash to confirm that class could prevail, as Shivnarine Chanderpaul had already shown in making 81 for Durham.

Run machine Ramprakash must have wondered why on earth 15 wickets had gone down inside 80 overs on a blameless pitch as he made 62.

But he fell to the fifth ball of the day's last over, leaving Liam Plunkett with one for 36 in 5.5 overs when he edged a ball of extra bounce to Michael Di Venuto, who clutched it at the second attempt at second slip.

Surrey were 161 for seven at the close, still 71 adrift, and the rapid progress has given Durham the chance of a win which will keep them in the title race, despite the threat of rain.

There was no hint of trouble for the visitors as Steve Harmison opened up with three wayward overs, but he was on target in the fourth then Jon Batty edged a drive wide of off stump and the flying Phil Mustard held a superb catch.

Two more wickets fell in the next over as Ramprakash declined a run to backward square and Scott Newman failed to get back, then Mark Butcher edged Ottis Gibson to first slip.

Durham have tried a few people there since leaving Gareth Breese out of the team, and the latest incumbent, Chanderpaul, hung on delightedly.

Gibson struck in each of his next two overs, with full-length in-swingers pinning Stewart Walters and Ally Brown lbw.

With Plunkett replacing Harmison, however, the next seven overs produced 67 runs as James Benning thrashed 36 off 22 balls before falling to Paul Wiseman's first ball. He pushed forward and edged to Di Venuto at slip.

But Australian Matt Nicholson kept Ramprakash company for 15 overs until Plunkett again showed that he can produce a vital wicket-taking ball even when far from his best.

With five of Durham's top eight failing to reach double figures, it was the youngsters who fared worst, reaffirming the impression that their preparation for manhood ought to involve being roused at 5am every day for a 14-hour shift down a pit.

They left Chanderpaul to put in the hard graft at the coalface, but even he lost concentration when left with the tail, edging a loose drive to end his masterful display.

There was a half-century from Di Venuto, who departed straight after lunch, while skipper Dale Benkenstein stroked his way to 30 off 27 balls with the same ease as in his two cameos at the Oval last month.

If his dismissals there were surprises, yesterday's was an even bigger shock. While Harbhajan Singh conceded only 49 runs in 19.4 overs, Benkenstein forced him out of the attack by hitting him for three fours in an over, two through the off side off the back foot and one driven wide of mid-on.

The Indian off-spinner was replaced by the occasional medium pace of Walters with immediate reward.

There was confirmation, however, that the age of 60 is something of a watershed for umpires.

While the admirable Peter Willey turned down an appeal many would have upheld in the day's first over, John Steele proved he could pass any rapid reaction test in triggering both Di Venuto and Benkenstein. Not that Durham would be complaining when he later did the same to Walters and Brown.

Di Venuto was the beneficiary of Willey's good judgement in the first over. He padded up to a ball from Nicholson which swung in but would probably have passed over the stumps.

Other than skying one of his eight fours off a top-edged pull, Di Venuto generally found the middle of the bat in scoring 56 off 100 balls before he played back and was lbw to Harbhajan.

There were four changes from the Surrey team which beat Durham by six wickets at the Oval a month ago, the most surprising being that Rikki Clarke has been dropped after his unbeaten 68 won that match.

Chris Schofield has also been left out, along with seamers Neil Saker and Jade Dernbach, with Brown, Benning, Jimmy Ormond and Chris Jordan coming in.

Although listed at No 11 in a strong batting line-up, Jordan is an 18-year-old all-rounder playing his second first-class game.

He was spotted at home in Barbados by Bill Athey, who was searching for a suitable candidate for a scholarship at Dulwich College, and after his arrival there Jordan made a swift impression when brought to Surrey's attention.

Although bowling at a lively pace, he was slightly flattered by his figures yesterday as his three wickets were gifted to him. Kyle Coetzer shouldered arms and lost his off bail, while Mustard and Ben Harmison were guilty of poor shots.

Jordan also held a brilliant low catch at square leg to get rid of the unfortunate Mark Stoneman for six, giving Nicholson his only wicket.

It is hard to believe that Ormond played in two Tests in 2001-2. He will be 30 next week but a promising career has been ravaged by injury and he moves with little more agility than a beached whale.

But in his third spell he had both Gibson and Chanderpaul caught behind, gaining his revenge after the left-hander greeted his second spell with two majestic, wristy flicks to the mid-wicket boundary.

Chanderpaul also cut with absolute precision, but after reaching 50 off 79 balls with nine fours he throttled back as wickets started to fall.

He faced a further 87 balls and hit only one more boundary as he waited in vain for someone to build a partnership.

Mustard drove the sixth ball he faced straight to extra cover and Ben Harmison edged to Batty when trying to cut a ball which was too straight for the shot.

Gibson followed an away swinger from Ormond, and the final two lasted a total of nine balls as Wiseman drove a fierce return catch to Harbhajan, who then had Steve Harmison caught at slip,.