Durham busy turning the screw on Somerset

SOMERSET wanted a result after their stalemate against Warwickshire. And barring rain they’re going to get one – a resounding thrashing.

After Dale Benkenstein made his championship-best 181 in Durham’s total of 543, Graham Onions swiftly celebrated his England call-up with another superb display.

On his way to six for 31 he took the first three wickets to knock the heart out of the hapless hosts, who capitulated for 69, even though the pitch had lost some of the green tinge it exhibited on the first day at Taunton.

Only the Somerset captain, Justin Langer, showed any resistance with an unbeaten 35, but when they followed on 477 behind they reached 83 for one.

After bowling unchanged for 14.2 overs in the first innings, Onions bowled four more before resting and Steve Harmison was unable to match his accuracy as he tried to unsettle Marcus Trescothick.

James Hildreth, who scored a triple century here against Warwickshire two weeks ago, was out second ball as numbers four, five, six and seven failed to muster a run.

Onions’ pace and accuracy in front of the Sky TV cameras, plus occasional movement off the pitch, surely booked his Test debut at Lord’s next week.

He was probably lucky to take his fifth wicket, although why Peter Trego went for a reckless hook given his team’s plight only he knows.

He was caught down the leg side by Phil Mustard and TV replays seemed to support his indication that the ball had come off his elbow.

Otherwise Onions fully deserved his second five-wicket haul in five days following the one against Yorkshire which earned his place in the Test squad.

He showed stamina as well as he kept going for 12 overs until tea after striking the first blow in his second.

Trescothick carved the first two balls he faced from Harmison through the gully area for four, but was then bowled for 12 as Onions nipped one into him off the pitch.

The other opener, Arul Suppiah, looked very composed as he and Langer took the score to 39 before Suppiah shaped to play to mid-wicket off the back foot and the ball lobbed back to Onions off the shoulder of the bat.

Hildreth withdrew his bat at the last moment and was lbw to a ball which brushed his pad and missed off stump by a whisker.

Three overs later Harmison had Zander de Bruyn caught down the leg side by Mustard.

There always seems to be an element of luck about such dismissals, but Harmison has been looking for them and again posted a wide leg slip.

Wicketkeeper Craig Kieswetter, who made a century against Warwickshire, showed no stomach for the fight as he drove at Onions and edged to Callum Thorp at third slip.

Trego followed in the same over and when Thorp replaced Harmison, Omari Banks edged him low to Michael Di Venuto at second slip.

That made it 54 for seven and even though Onions had raced in for 12 overs before tea he kept going afterwards, with no loss of effort. He had last man Charl Willoughby caught off a skied slog to point.

When Benkenstein spent the first hour settling in after resuming on 110, the fact that batting wasn’t easy was not a bad sign for Durham given that they had almost 400 on the board after being put in.

Mustard made only four in 40 minutes before being run out by Trego’s direct hit on the non-striker’s end from mid-wicket.

Benkenstein played the ball to mid-wicket and both batsmen set off before stopping.

Trego came from square leg to hit the stumps and TV replays confirmed that Mustard was out.

Benkenstein scored only nine in the first hour but then drove a four wide of mid-off to bring up the 400 and was back in command from that point.

Thorp benefited from Trescothick’s third drop of the innings at second slip in making 32, then Mitch Claydon also joined in the fun.

He took the total to 500 by clouting Banks for a huge six before the off-spinner bowled him for 38 when going for another big hit.

Harmison also hit a six before Benkenstein was last out, caught at deep cover. Although he has a top first-class score of 259 for Natal, this was 19 more than his previous best for Durham, the 162 not out he made in his first season, 2005, against Derbyshire at Riverside.

After Gordon Muchall’s 68, extras were the third highest scorer on 62, which was a fair reflection of the indiscipline of Somerset’s bowlers. David Stiff conceded 134 runs in 25 overs.

Scoreboard

Somerset v Durham At Taunton

Overnight: Durham 372-6 (D M Benkenstein 110 no, G J Muchall 68, M J DiVenuto 53, I D Blackwell 50).

Durham First Innings

D M Benkenstein c Suppiah b Thomas 181

P Mustard run out .................................. 4

C D Thorp c Kieswetter b Stiff ...............32

M E Claydon b Banks ............................38

S J Harmison not out .............................10

Extras (b13 lb11 w12 nb26 pens 0) 62

Total (134.5 overs) .................543

Fall: 1-98 2-119 3-119 4-285 5-366 6-372 7- 382 8-450 9-521

Score at 130 overs: 8-512

Bowling: Willoughby 31-10-75-1. Thomas 22.5-5-88-2. Stiff 25-4-134-2. Trego 26-6-73- 2. de Bruyn 9-0-53-0. Banks 14-0-73-2. Suppiah 7-1-23-0.

Somerset First Innings

M E Trescothick b Onions .....................12

A V Suppiah c & b Onions .....................12

J L Langer not out ........................35

J C Hildreth lbw b Onions ...................... 0

Z de Bruyn c Mustard b S J Harmison .. 0

C Kieswetter c Thorp b Onions ............. 0

P D Trego c Mustard b Onions .............. 0

O A Banks c Di Venuto b Thorp ............ 4

A C Thomas b Thorp ........................ 2

D A Stiff b Thorp .......................... 0

C M Willoughby c W R Smith b Onions .... 0

Extras (lb4 pens 0)....................... 4

Total (28.2 overs) .........................69

Fall: 1-12 2-39 3-39 4-40 5-49 6-49 7-54 8-66 9-66

Bowling: Onions 14.2-4-31-6. S J Harmison 8-2-29-1. Thorp 6-2-5-3.

Somerset Second Innings Close

M E Trescothick not out .........................32

A V Suppiah lbw b Claydon ...................29

J C Hildreth not out ........................22

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

Total 1 wkt (24 overs)...................83

Fall: 1-49

Bowling: Onions 4-1-19-0. Thorp 5-1-22-0. S J Harmison 7-3-23-0. Claydon 6-1-14-1. Blackwell 2-0-5-0.