Durham v Surrey (Friends Provident Trophy)

JUBILANT Durham snatched their first win of the season from the jaws of defeat yesterday when Ian Blackwell took wickets with the last two balls against Surrey.

The showboats looked to be sailing home when Mark Ramprakash completed a masterful century by hitting the last two balls of a Liam Plunkett over for four and six to get the target down to 16 off three overs.

As 17 had come off the 47th and Surrey had six wickets standing it should have been a stroll, but a tight final over from Steve Harmison was followed by a much better one from Plunkett and five were needed off the final over.

Three singles were scrambled from four balls, then New Zealand Test allrounder Grant Elliott drove the fifth straight into Plunkett’s hands at mid-off.

Jon Batty pulled the final ball into the ultra-safe hands of Dale Benkenstein at deep mid-wicket and Durham had won by one run, giving them a huge fillip ahead of today’s third Friends Provident Trophy match at home to Sussex.

After Phil Mustard provided an excellent start Durham had looked certain to pay dearly for the loss of four wickets between the 18th and 25th overs, two of them to leg-spinner Chris Schofield.

At the halfway stage of their innings they were 112 for four and in need of consolidation, whereas Surrey were 113 for one and poised to press on. They did just that, scoring 37 off the next five overs while Durham had scored nine and lost a fifth wicket.

Yet again ex-skipper Benkenstein rode to the rescue with an unbeaten 77 off 80 balls, and with the help of Plunkett and Callum Thorp, 84 came off the last eight overs to give Durham a competitive total of 266 for seven.

It might not have been enough but for some tight bowling by Mitch Claydon.

Retaining his place because Graham Onions was called away to join up with the England squad, the Australian opened up with one for 25 in eight overs.

When he returned with 56 needed off eight he conceded only three in his first over.

That was when Surrey came under pressure and a little extra lift from Harmison forced Matthew Spriegel to edge to Mustard, bringing in Elliott with 48 needed off six.

Surrey surely required only one good over and Ramprakash seemed to have provided it.

Known more as a voracious four-day accumulator, the man who passed 100 firstclass centuries last season was troubled only once on his way to his unbeaten 109.

On 12 he fended a ball from Harmison just out of Will Smith’s reach at backward point, but then simply by playing classy cricket he sped to a 54-ball half-century as he put on 109 for the second wicket with Scott Newman.

The left-handed opener made 70 and Durham were on the ropes until he chased a ball from Plunkett wide of off stump and edged to Mustard.

The richly-talented Usman Afzaal, handed the captaincy by Surrey presumably to make him more responsible, lasted three balls before he was lbw trying to turn Blackwell to leg.

That seemed to have opened the door for Durham, but former Loughborough University captain Spriegel proved a reliable ally for Ramprakash until Surrey lost their nerve in the thrilling climax.

Durham won the toss and would have had their sights on at least 280 during an opening stand of 89. They were checked by the aggressive South African Andre Nel, and after he forced Michael Di Venuto to play on Durham slumped to 150 for six through a combination of poor shots and questionable umpiring.

Smith and Blackwell both had cause to feel disgruntled after being given out lbw.

Blackwell looked particularly hard done by and the replay was not shown on Riverside’s impressive new screen, possibly to spare 64-year-old umpire Vanburn Holder embarrassment.

He didn’t help himself by having to cancel a no-ball call in the final over of the innings, not realising that the bowler had run through the crease because Benkenstein backed away.

Plunkett, available because England Lions beat the West Indies in three days, made 30 off 29 balls and helped to put on 69.

Then Durham continued to make the most of the batting powerplay as Callum Thorp chipped in with 20 not out off 12 balls.

At the outset it wasn’t difficult to see why Surrey had made a poor start to the season.

Schofield and Newman dropped two easy catches, but Schofield atoned when Durham allowed themselves to be bamboozled by his leg spin.

Mustard was back to the form he showed in the FPT when Durham won it in 2007, driving the medium pace of Elliott for a straight six then reverse sweeping Schofield’s second ball for four to reach 50 off 55 balls.

But if that was an early attempt to unsettle the legspinner it didn’t work as Schofield bowled straight through his ten overs to take two for 28.

Spriegel, who has little experience of bowling at this level, helped to shackle Durham in mid-innings with nine overs of off spin.

With Muchall struggling, Mustard saw little of the strike after Di Venuto was out and after taking six overs to score his last four runs he lost patience and swept Spriegel straight to deep backward square.

It was an untimely exit because Muchall had departed in the previous over, bowled when going for a big hit off Schofield.

After Blackwell fell for two Gareth Breese helped to stop the rot in a stand of 29, but Benkenstein’s blend of orthodoxy and improvisation in his 80-ball innings deserved to put him in the position to take the winning catch.

SCORECARD

Durham v Surrey
At Riverside.
Durham Innings
M J Di Venuto b Nel 29
P Mustard c Newman b Spriegel 61
G J Muchall b Schofield 6
W R Smith lbw b Schofield 3
D M Benkenstein not out 77
I D Blackwell lbw b Spriegel 2
G R Breese c Batty b Elliott 15
L E Plunkett c Jordan b Nel 30
C D Thorp not out 20
Extras (b2 lb3 w14 nb4 pens 0) 23
Total 7 wkts Innings Complete
(50 overs) 266
Fall: 1-89 2-107 3-111 4-112 5-121 6-150
7-219
Did Not Bat: M E Claydon, S J Harmison.
Jordan 5-0-21-0. Dernbach 7-0-44-0. Elliott
9-0-68-1. Nel 10-0-56-2. Schofield 10-0-28-
2. Spriegel 9-0-44-2.
Surrey Innings
S A Newman c Mustard b Plunkett 70
M J Brown c Plunkett b Claydon 28
M R Ramprakash not out 109
U Afzaal lbw b Blackwell 0
M N Spriegel c Mustard b S J Harmison 22
G D Elliott c Plunkett b Blackwell 19
J N Batty c Benkenstein b Blackwell 0
Extras (lb5 w10 nb2 pens 0)17
Total 6 wkts Innings Complete
(50 overs) 265
Fall: 1-54 2-163 3-164 4-216 5-265 6-265
Did Not Bat: C P Schofield, C J Jordan, J W
Dernbach.
Claydon 10-1-37-1. Thorp 5-0-34-0. S J
Harmison 10-0-44-1. Blackwell 10-0-43-3.
Breese 5-0-22-0. Benkenstein 4-0-27-0. Plunkett
6-0-53-1.
Durham beat Surrey by one run