Derbyshire v Durham (Twenty20 Cup)

FOR the third time in 14 months Durham were enmeshed in a floodlit farce at Derby last night before their Twenty20 Cup gloom was lifted by David Warner.

After kicking his heels for two weeks since Australia’s early World T20 exit, the diminutive left-hander fully lived up to his reputation on his Durham debut.

Chasing Derbyshire’s 153 for six, Warner set about the task with a calmness which suggested he felt it would be a stroll in the park. And so it was, as 20-year-old Warner scorched to 50 off 29 balls and Durham cruised home by seven wickets.

Much now hinges on tonight’s match at home to Yorkshire, whose defeat at Trent Bridge on Monday has opened up the battle for second place in the group.

Warner failed to add to his half-century, miscuing an attempted hook off a Graham Wagg bouncer to mid-wicket, but his stand of 96 with Phil Mustard was a record opening partnership for Durham in T20 cricket. The previous best was 81 by Gordon Muchall and Jimmy Maher at Old Trafford in 2006.

The innings was in its tenth over when Warner was out and there was no loss of momentum as Kyle Coetzer opened up with three fours then Mustard drove a six and reached his own 50 off 28 balls in the next over.

Coetzer fell for 16 in similar fashion to Warner, then Mustard departed for 52 when he clipped a catch to mid-wicket.

But Dale Benkenstein and Ian Blackwell had a straightforward task in guiding Durham home.

The writing was on the wall for Derbyshire after they brought on former Durham player Garry Park with the score on 49 after five overs and he was promptly hit for four fours by Warner.

Rather than thrashing frenetically at slower balls, as many batsmen do in this form of cricket, Warner patiently waited for them to arrive before swotting them away with perfect timing.

He began by calmly turning the first ball of the innings, a knee-high full toss from South African paceman Nantie Hayward, behind square for four.

There was a touch of finesse about a leg glance for four in Hayward’s second over, then a slower ball from Wagg was dispatched over mid-wicket for six.

Durham were clearly infuriated when the match was halted after 3.2 overs, and having made a promising start they stumbled on the resumption.

Derbyshire plan to turn their square around to face north-south next winter, meanwhile their attempt to solve the problems caused by a low sun blinding the batsmen by erecting a sail didn’t work.

Australian Stuart Law used all his experience to influence events, facing one ball before his complaint led to the break. He then hit a half-century.

Durham were convinced they had the 40-year-old caught behind on 22, when attempting to cut Gareth Breese, but he used a blend of class and improvisation to score 59 off 44 balls before being run out in the 19th over.

At the start of his innings, even though he had his back to the sun, Law complained that he couldn’t see the ball coming out of the shadow created by the sail.

At least this time the delay was only 26 minutes, compared with 85 in last season’s Twenty20 clash, when the game ended at 10.40.

Durham first encountered the problem in a Friends Provident Trophy tie on May 2 last year, when they lost by one run after their innings was twice interrupted by the low sun.

Following last night’s 7pm start, Derbyshire had slipped from 17 for no wicket to 20 for two when play was suspended but on the restart Law and Greg Smith took 28 off two overs.

Law hit three successive fours off Ben Harmison then Smith cut and pulled Mitch Claydon for four and six.

Will Smith then shied so wildly at the striker’s end from mid-off that Mustard had no chance of preventing four overthrows.

This was a clear sign that events had rattled the Durham captain and there were other examples of substandard fielding.

Prior to the break Claydon had Wagg caught by Mustard then Harmison came on for the third over and conceded only three runs while also removing Chris Rogers.

The Australian left-hander made a half-century when Derbyshire won by 59 runs at Riverside last month, but this time he fell for ten when he shaped to turn Harmison through mid-wicket and got a leading edge to Neil Killeen at mid-on.

Otherwise Durham’s gamble on Harmison junior as their third seamer, with very little cricket behind him, backfired as he was hit for six boundaries in his second and third overs, which cost a combined total of 27 runs.

The third-wicket stand was worth 37 in four overs when Greg Smith was adjudged lbw for 22 when attempting to reverse sweep Blackwell.

The momentum slipped against the all-spin attack of Blackwell and Breese as West Indian Wavell Hinds settled in, scoring only six off his first 12 balls.

He then smashed a Blackwell donkey drop over long-on for six, but was bowled for 23 by the last ball of Breese’s four-over stint.

Claydon out-foxed John Sadler with a slow bouncer, which the batsman guided into Killeen’s hands at short third man. Law departed when he set off for a suicidal second run and was beaten by Warner’s throw. Only six came off the final over from Claydon, keeping the target well within bounds.

SCORECARD

Derbyshire v Durham
At Derby.

Derbyshire Innings
G G Wagg c Mustard b Claydon 9
C J Rogers c Killeen b B W Harmison 10
G M Smith lbw b Blackwell 22
S G Law run out 59
W W Hinds b Breese 23
J L Sadler c Killeen b Claydon 13
D J Pipe not out 9
T D Groenewald not out 5
Extras (lb1 w2 pens 0) 3
Total 6 wkts Innings
Complete (20 overs) 153
Fall: 1-17 2-19 3-56 4-106 5-133 6-143
Did Not Bat: G T Park, M A K Lawson, M Hayward.
Killeen 4-0-29-0. Claydon 4-0-40-2. B W Harmison
3-0-30-1. Blackwell 4-0-25-1. Breese 4-0-24-1.
Benkenstein 1-0-4-0.

Durham Innings
D A Warner c Smith b Wagg 50
P Mustard c Lawson b Groenewald 52
K J Coetzer c Wagg b Hayward 16
D M Benkenstein b Park 14
I D Blackwell not out 13
W R Smith not out 4
Extras (lb1 w4 pens 0) 5
Total 4 wkts (18 overs)154
Fall: 1-96 2-121 3-125 4-145
Did Not Bat: G J Muchall, G R Breese, B W Harmison,
M E Claydon, N Killeen.
Hayward 4-0-22-1. Groenewald 4-0-23-1. Wagg 3-
0-39-1. Park 3-0-27-1. Smith 2-0-19-0. Lawson 2-0-
23-0.

Durham beat Derbyshire by 6 wkts