Vaughan must follow in Di Venuto’s footsteps

IF Michael Vaughan can bat like Michael Di Venuto today he might just secure a return to the England team and restore some Yorkshire pride.

They took a battering from Durham yesterday, but if the Riverside pitch remains flat Vaughan might believe victory is possible when Yorkshire resume on three without loss, needing a further 391 to win.

For two sessions yesterday Durham so totally dominated what for two days had been an evenly-balanced game that their only worry was when to declare.

In trying to push on they briefly lost their way in the evening as Di Venuto’s majestic innings of 143 ended when he drove Adil Rashid to midoff, then Ian Blackwell edged the leg-spinner to slip.

Blackwell was sent in ahead of Dale Benkenstein in the hope of maintaining the momentum while Gordon Muchall attempted to consolidate his place in the team.

When the plan backfired, and with Rashid gaining in confidence, hopes of stretching the lead to 400 by 5.30 were not quite realised. But new skipper Will Smith was still bold enough to declare with four overs left to bowl.

Joe Sayers survived a couple of scares against Steve Harmison, while fellow lefthander Jacques Rudolph was content to leave anything he didn’t need to play at from Graham Onions.

Muchall enjoyed the slice of good fortune he was due when he was dropped on 13 by Matthew Hoggard, running back from mid-on.

After adding only a couple of singles in the previous 20 minutes, the let-off seemed to lift a weight from Muchall’s shoulders and he progressed smoothly to an unbeaten 51.

Yorkshire wicketkeeper Gerard Brophy had an excellent first two days, but if ever a game turned on a moment’s madness it is this one.

After taking six catches and scoring 75, Brophy went down the pitch to Blackwell and was stumped. From 247 for four Yorkshire slumped to 272 all out, trailing by 90, then Di Venuto took them apart.

The ball dominated in the first hour as Harmison and Onions shared Yorkshire’s remaining four wickets for the addition of a mere eight runs.

Then Mark Stoneman departed to the third ball of Durham’s second innings. He was perilously close to lbw off the second ball, but when Hoggard swung another one in to rap him on the pads while stuck on the crease the raised finger was inevitable.

For a few overs it seemed the clatter of wickets might continue as both Hoggard and Tim Bresnan swung the ball and posed problems. But then Bresnan bowled a couple of long hops which Di Venuto gratefully cut for four and the batsmen suddenly seized the initiative.

Y o r k s h i r e would have wanted three or four wickets with the new ball to get back into the game, a n d once it b e c a m e clear it w a s n ’ t going to happen the bowlers allowed Di Venuto to score freely.

He raced to 50, with nine fours, and after initially being content to survive Smith also began to flourish. He was always playing second fiddle to the Tasmanian maestro, however, contributing 67 to the stand of 204, which was compiled at the healthy rate of just over four an over.

Di Venuto turned Hoggard to fine leg for the single which brought up his 121-ball century just before Smith reached 50 by pulling Rashid for four.

The talented leg-spinner had looked some way below his best, prompting fears that yet another young bowler might take a backward step following exposure to the England set-up.

But he held on to a return catch when Smith tried to turn him to mid-wicket and after the capture of Di Venuto the youngster settled into a better groove.

Whether Blackwell’s spinning credentials are tested today will depend largely on whether Yorkshire survive the opening barrage from Harmison and Onions. Their tail certainly didn’t yesterday.

Harmison snared lefthander Joe Sayers in the day’s third over by posting a man in an unusual position at wide leg slip, then the new ball was taken in the next over and Onions made excellent use of it.

He was rewarded for his luckless efforts the previous day with the wickets of Steve Patterson, who edged to Phil Mustard, and Hoggard, who was lbw. Harmison wrapped it up when Rashid top-edged a cut straight to third man. Harmison finished with four for 76 and Yorkshire had added only eight to their overnight score to be all out for 272.

Scoreboard

Durham v Yorkshire At Riverside

Overnight: Durham 362 (I D Blackwell 95, P Mustard 94 no; M J Hoggard4-82). Yorkshire 264-6 (G L Brophy 75, J A Rudolph 51).

Yorkshire First Innings (contd)

A U Rashid c Benkenstein b S Harmison 11

J J Sayers c Plunkett b S J Harmison ... 5

S A Patterson c Mustard b Onions ........ 3

M J Hoggard lbw b Onions .................. 1

G J Kruis not out ........................0

Extras (b10 lb8 nb6 pens 0) ........24

Total (85.1 overs).................... 272

Fall: 1-40 2-83 3-96 4-142 5-247 6-247 7-267 8-270 9-272

Bowling: S J Harmison 23.1-3-76-4. Thorp 18-2-57-1. Onions 19-4-49-3. Plunkett 13-3- 38-1. Benkenstein 2-0-15-0. Blackwell 10-5- 19-1.

Durham Second Innings

M D Stoneman lbw b Hoggard ............. 0

M J Di Venuto c Bresnan b A Rashid .. 143

W R Smith c & b A Rashid ...................67

G J Muchall not out ............................51

I D Blackwell c Rudolph b A Rashid ...... 6

D M Benkenstein c A Rashid b Hoggard 22

P Mustard not out .............................. 1

Extras (b4 lb6 w3 pens 0)............13

Total 5 wkts dec (79 overs).....303

Fall: 1-0 2-204 3-233 4-239 5-295

Did Not Bat: L E Plunkett, G Onions, C D Thorp, S J Harmison.

Bowling: Hoggard 15-1-57-2. Bresnan 9-2- 40-0. Kruis 9-1-31-0. Patterson 17-2-62-0. A U Rashid 26-1-88-3. McGrath 3-0-15-0.

Yorkshire Second Innings Close

J A Rudolph not out ............................ 2

J J Sayers not out ......................1

Extras (pens 0)............................. 0

Total 0 wkts (4 overs)................ 3

To Bat: M P Vaughan, A McGrath, A W Gale, G L Brophy, T T Bresnan, A U Rashid, S A Patterson, G J Kruis, M J Hoggard.

Bonus Pts: Durham 7 Yorkshire 5

Bowling: S J Harmison 2-0-3-0. Onions 2- 2-0-0.