Smith sets platform for first Durham win

By grafting for 238 balls to make 80 he helped his side to a first innings lead of 206, then he leapt athletically at gully to catch John Crawley as Hampshire stuttered to 52 for four at the close.

The only disappointment for Durham was that they fell one or two batting points short of expectations after slipping from 280 for five just before tea to 311 all out ten overs later.

Despite having played in 34 one-day internationals and only one Test, Ian Blackwell continued to underline that he is a far more accomplished four-day player.

It hasn’t been difficult recently to imagine why Somerset dropped him from their one-day side, despite his powerful striking.

He looks more comfortable when he doesn’t have to go chasing the bowling but can simply wait for the bad balls to come along.

Even then he accumulates with surprising haste, reaching 50 off 60 balls after the vigilance which was so necessary earlier in the innings had seen Smith take 170 balls to reach the same milestone.

Leg-spinner Imran Tahir finished with five for 85. Generally he bowled poorly, but he took the last three wickets in one over.

One of his better balls had Blackwell caught behind for 68, then Mitch Claydon and Steve Harmison were bowled.

Claydon went down the track and Harmison departed first ball, attempting his favourite lap shot. Perhaps they wanted to bowl again before the pitch lost all its juice.

Michael Carberry, out for a duck to the sixth ball of Hampshire’s first innings, departed to the first second time around.

Graham Onions, who had three impassioned appeals rejected by Richard Illingworth in the first innings, this time extracted an lbw verdict from Nick Cook.

The same umpire later gave out Michael Lumb, caught behind off the first ball of Harmison’s second spell, although the batsman clearly disagreed with the decision.

These things tend to even themselves out, and after being convinced he had Crawley caught behind in the first innings Onions gave him quite a working over yesterday.

But it was Harmison who claimed the scalp.

Lumb made 32 in a stand of 36 with fellow left-hander Jimmy Adams, and after the Yorkshireman departed five overs from the close nightwatchman James Tomlinson was bowled by Callum Thorp.

It was obviously a good toss for Smith to win on Saturday, when the return to four-day cricket was greeted by rain after all those sun-kissed hours of killing time while waiting for evening Twenty20 action.

But the groundstaff did a fine job in allowing play to get underway at 12.15 and Smith was happy to put Hampshire in and allow his seamers to exploit the moisture.

Like Blackwell, Onions took up where he left off before the T20 interlude, taking three of the wickets to reduce the visitors to 26 for four.

Claydon struck with his first two balls, both yorkers in mid-innings, then Harmison shrugged off his wayward earlier efforts to take the last four wickets as Hampshire succumbed for 105.

With Michael Brown having gone to Surrey, Dimitri Mascarenhas on England duty, and Chris Tremlett injured, they continued to look a moderate side yesterday.

There was talk of Dominic Cork joining Durham when Lancashire declined to extend his contract, but that was coming mainly from him.

While still a combative character, he will be 38 in August and was lucky to take his one wicket yesterday.

Gordon Muchall had cause to kick himself when he pulled Cork to square leg because he had done the hard work in helping Smith to get through the first 90 minutes.

Mark Stoneman had played well for 44 on Saturday evening and when Durham resumed on 84 for two Smith and Muchall added only 18 in the first hour.

Left-armer Tomlinson swung the ball into the righthanders and they showed good technique and vigilance in keeping him out.

The back-up bowling was modest, however, with Tahir looking well short of the form which brought him 44 wickets in seven games last season.

Smith pulled him for two fours in one over to reach 50 and Tahir continued to bowl too short after lunch.

Just when it was all beginning to look a little too easy, however, he snared Dale Benkenstein for 22 when the ex-captain top-edged a sweep to backward square leg.

Smith, who hit 14 fours, fell lbw to seamer David Griffiths, who was a little unlucky when Blackwell got off the mark rather streakily with a carve over the slips.

The ball was soon coming out of the middle of his bat, however, with strokes to tbe cover boundary off the back foot requiring the minimum of effort.

A fluent stand of 72 with Phil Mustard ended when the wicketkeeper played back to Sean Ervine and got an inside edge into his stumps in the over before tea.

It sparked a collapse but in the overall context of the game it should do no more damage than the loss of one or two batting points.

Scoreboard

Durham v Hampshire At Riverside

Overnight: Hampshire 105 (S J Harmison 4- 43). Durham 84-2.

Durham First Innings

W R Smith lbw b Griffiths .......................80

G J Muchall c Dawson b Cork ...............28

D M Benkenstein c Dawson b I Tahir ....22

I D Blackwell c Pothas b Imran Tahir .....68

P Mustard b Ervine ................................32

C D Thorp b Tomlinson .......................... 0

M E Claydon b Imran Tahir ....................10

G Onions not out ............................ 1

S J Harmison b Imran Tahir ................... 0

Extras (b4 lb3 w2 nb10 pens 0) ..19

Total (103 overs) ....................311

Fall: 1-7 2-75 3-140 4-191 5-208 6-280 7-281 8-308 9-311

Bonus Pts: Durham 6 Hampshire 3

Bowling: Cork 20-5-45-1. Tomlinson 23-7- 72-2. Griffiths 20-6-73-1. Imran Tahir 27-7- 85-5. Ervine 13-5-29-1.

Hampshire Second Innings Close

M A Carberry lbw b Onions ................... 0

J H Adams not out .................................11

J P Crawley c W Smith b S J Harmison 5

M J Lumb c Mustard b S J Harmison ....32

J A Tomlinson b Thorp ........................... 1

D A Griffiths not out ............ 1

Extras (lb1 w1 pens 0)................. 2

Total 4 wkts (23 overs).................52

Fall: 1-0 2-13 3-49 4-50

To Bat: S M Ervine, N Pothas, L A Dawson, D G Cork, Imran Tahir.

Bowling: Onions 9-2-26-1. S J Harmison 8- 4-15-2. Thorp 6-2-10-1.