FOR a few hours at least, champions Durham swept to the top of the table yesterday after Graham Onions brushed aside Hampshire’s feeble resistance in 52 minutes at Riverside.

Onions took five of the six remaining wickets to finish with six for 58 as Hampshire crumbled to 96 all out, handing Durham victory by an innings and 110 runs.

Skipper Will Smith said: “If we keep playing like that we will be right up there again at the end of the season.

“We played really well in the first three games without quite being able to finish things off, but this was even better.

“The Twenty20 was tough and we didn’t play as well as we would have liked, but everyone was very focused on the first morning here, determined that we were going to carry on our good four-day form. We did it brilliantly – everyone was spot on.”

Other than Onions’ bowling, Smith’s patient innings of 80 did as much as anything to undermine Hampshire and he said: “You have to enjoy being boring.

“The last few years have shown that coming back from T20 to four-day cricket is difficult.

You have to get your mental application right, but these are the challenges we face when we are playing so many different forms of the game in a short time.

“It wasn’t an easy pitch to bat on, but there was nothing untoward about it – just a bit of uneven bounce. It was a quality effort from our seamers which made the difference.

“Graham is on the crest of a wave. He’s worked hard on his fitness, he’s feeling strong and he’s bowling long spells, which he could not have done in the past.

“He’s a fairly quiet guy, but out in the middle he has a bit of white line fever, which fast bowlers need.”

With Callum Thorp bowling at the other end yesterday, Steve Harmison was not required and Smith added: “If they had got a bit of a stand going there’s nobody I’d rather have than Steve to come on and break it.

“He’s fresh and raring to go and I’ll back him to take a few more wickets over the next two games.”

With this match effectively over inside two days following the loss of the first 75 minutes on Saturday, Durham gained some extra time off ahead of Thursday’s visit of Lancashire, who were second going into their current match against Somerset.

They are bound to provide stiffer opposition than Hampshire, who lost their second nightwatchman, David Griffiths, to the first ball of the second over when they resumed on 52 for four.

When Onions knocked back his off stump it was the third time in the match he had struck in his opening over of the day.

“When I was younger I made the mistake of not always being ready to bowl,” he said. “Now I have a routine which means that when I get to the end of my mark I’m ready to give the batsman hell from the first ball.

“It was a perfect morning for me. I was a bit disappointed to go for more than four an over, but I had a very attacking field.

“I’ve still got a lot of hard work to do to get into the England team for the Ashes, and I think Steve Harmison still has a very good chance. But he won’t begrudge me these wickets. We’re one big happy family here.”

Sean Ervine adopted a muck-or-nettles approach when he came in on Griffiths’ exit. The left-hander took three fours off the rest of the over, and he certainly wasn’t inclined to knuckle down once he had been struck on the helmet by Onions and the hand by Thorp.

Opener Jimmy Adams, who faced 71 balls for 11, finally went to drive Onions through mid-off and got an inside edge into his stumps.

That ball swung in a little to the left-hander, then for his next victim Onions nipped one back off the pitch to have right-hander Nic Pothas lbw.

Ervine hooked Thorp to long leg then Dominic Cork, who would not have enjoyed being demoted to No 10 by the two nightwatchmen, edged Onions to second slip.

Finally Imran Tahir departed first ball, wafting at a short ball and edging it to wicketkeeper Phil Mustard.

Nottinghamshire will go back above Durham by securing a draw against Warwickshire, but with Liam Plunkett and Mark Davies knocking on the door, Durham have sounded a warning that they have a strong enough squad to be serious title challengers again.

Scoreboard

LV COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIP DIVISION ONE

Durham v Hampshire At Riverside

Overnight: Durham 311 (W R Smith 80, I D Blackwell 68; Imran Tahir5-85). Hampshire 105 (S J Harmison 4-43) and 52-4.

Hampshire Second Innings

J H Adams b Onions ...........................11

D A Griffiths b Onions ......................... 2

S M Ervine c Claydon b Thorp ............22

N Pothas lbw b Onions ........................ 8

L A Dawson not out ............................ 6

D G Cork c Di Venuto b Onions ........... 6

Imran Tahir c Mustard b Onions .......... 0

Extras (lb2 w1 pens 0) ............... 3

Total (34.2 overs) .......................96

Fall: 1-0 2-13 3-49 4-50 5-53 6-66 7-76 8- 86 9-96

Total Bonus Pts: Durham 6 Hampshire 3 Onions 14.2-2-58-6. S J Harmison 8-4-15- 2. Thorp 12-4-21-2.

Durham (20pts) beat Hampshire (3pts) by an innings and 110 runs.