Durham v Sussex (County Championship) : Day One

DURHAM were perplexed by a pair of Pakistanis yesterday as their chances of closing the five-point gap on leaders Sussex were wrecked by Rana Naved-ul-Hasan and Mushtaq Ahmed.

Known as Ronnie and Mushy to their teammates, they took their total of championship wickets to 55 between them in the fifth match as Durham struggled to 110 all out at Riverside.

Steve Harmison's luckless search for his first championship wicket since his return from injury then continued when he had a slip catch dropped as Sussex replied with 119 for two.

Three of Durham's top four batsmen looked unhappy with their decisions, with the first two given with surprising haste by ex-Yorkshire bowler Peter Hartley.

It was Durham's lowest total since they were dismissed for 91 by Derbyshire at Riverside two years ago in a match which was also preceded by heavy rain.

Leg-spinner Mushtaq, hit for two fours each by Phil Mustard and Steve Harmison, was otherwise a mystery to the Durham batsmen as he finished with five for 25 in 13 overs.

The even bigger mystery is why Danish Kaneria, who has spent two seasons with Essex, is now preferred to Mushtaq in the Pakistan team.

It was a day when Dale Benkenstein would probably have preferred to lose the toss, sparing him the decision over what to do on a pitch which had been under covers for much of the last three days.

It was a testimony to how much the drainage has improved, as well as the quality of the pitches, at Riverside that play was able to begin at noon after the ground was under water the previous day.

Although the covering had kept the playing strip drier than expected, there was bound to be moisture around and movement off the seam made life difficult enough until Mushtaq came on to work his magic.

He took four wickets with googlies, finding the edge when left-handers Gary Pratt and Phil Mustard pushed forward, while Benkenstein and Gareth Breese were lbw.

In their one previous season in division one, in 2000, Durham topped 400 only once - when they made 479 for eight against Derbyshire at Darlington. So having achieved maximum batting points twice already this season, the temptation for Benkenstein to bat was obvious.

Openers Jon Lewis and Jimmy Maher looked reasonably comfortable until the ball went out of shape and was changed in the fifth over.

Lewis played back to the next delivery and was adjudged lbw to Rana, and in the paceman's next over Gordon Muchall took several seconds longer to drag himself from the crease than Hartley did to uphold an appeal for caught behind.

Pratt was on two when he survived an lbw appeal from Rana then drove the next ball through extra cover for four to suggest he could put last week's struggles at Trent Bridge behind him.

Left-armer Jason Lewry posed few problems as the strong diagonal wind countered his usual inswing to right-handers and at 30 for two he made way for Luke Wright.

The 21-year-old Leicestershire reject was retained at the expense of James Kirtley, who was expected to make his comeback after having his action remodelled.

Wright's sprightly approach is similar to Kirtley's and he produced an excellent ball, leaving Maher off the pitch to have him caught behind. The Australian departed without so much as a glance at umpire Richard Kettleborough.

Durham were on 45 for three at lunch with Pratt on eight, but the interval had the same becalming effect as at Trent Bridge. He added one run in 11 overs before becoming Mushtaq's first victim.

Beaten by the last two balls of the leg-spinner's first over, both googlies, he pushed forward to the first ball of the next and edged to Chris Adams at slip. Pratt stood his ground until Kettleborough consulted Hartley at square leg to make sure the ball had carried.

Breese's search for runs lasted only five balls, but Mustard's keen eye seemed able to read Mushtaq as he cracked him off the back foot to the extra cover boundary to reach 15 off 17 balls. But he pushed forward to the next delivery and edged to Matt Prior.

Benkenstein's attempts to keep his sinking ship afloat lasted 87 balls before he played back to Mushtaq and was lbw for 18.

Rana returned and had Ottis Gibson caught behind off an attempted drive before Harmison played something akin to a conventional sweep for four off Mushtaq and followed it up with a perfectly-executed reverse sweep.

He was bamboozled by the flight as much as the spin whenever he tried to drive, however, several inside edges being intercepted by short fine leg before he was bowled.

Rana wrapped up the innings when a slower ball swung in to bowl Graham Onions.

Durham's persistence with pace in their attack was questionable on a pitch calling for the probing accuracy of Callum Thorp or Neil Killeen.

Breese dropped Carl Hopkinson on ten off Harmison, who was otherwise picked off without too much difficulty as the openers put on 57.

Ottis Gibson then had Hopkinson lbw and without addition Richard Montgomerie top-edged a pull off Mick Lewis for Mustard to take the catch at short fine leg.

With the light fading, Breese was brought on and his unhappy day ended when Murray Goodwin lofted successive balls for a straight four and a six off a full toss to give Sussex the lead.

From such an unhealthy position Durham will surely need further rain to save them over the next three days.

Scorecard

Durham v Sussex at Riverside

Durham First Innings
J J Lewis lbw b Naved-ul-Hasan 5
(played back 12b)
J P Maher c Prior b Wright 23
(ball moved away off pitch 43b, 3-4s)
G J Muchall c Prior b Naved-ul-Hasan 0
(half forward, edged to keeper 9b)
G J Pratt c Adams b Mushtaq Ahmed 9
(edged googly to first slip 74b, 1-4)
D M Benkenstein lbw b M Ahmed 18
(played back to googly 87b, 2-4s)
G R Breese lbw b Mushtaq Ahmed 0
(googly beat forward defensive 5b)
P Mustard c Prior b Mushtaq Ahmed 15
(edged googly to keeper 18b, 2-4s)
O D Gibson c Prior b Naved-ul-Hasan 8
(edged drive 30b, 1-4)
S J Harmison b Mushtaq Ahmed 8
(attempted drive 30b, 1-4)
G Onions b Naved-ul-Hasan 4
(slower ball, swung in 21b, 1-4)
M L Lewis not out 0
Extras (b5 lb13 nb2 pens 0) 20
Total (52.5 overs) 110
Fall: 1-12 2-18 3-40 4-53 5-59 6-75 7-92 8-92 9-106
Bowling: Naved-ul-Hasan 12.5-5-28-4. Lewry 11-
4-27-0. Wright 7-3-6-1. Martin-Jenkins 9-5-6-0.
Mushtaq Ahmed 13-4-25-5.

Sussex First Innings Close
R R Montgomerie c Mustard
b M L Lewis 28
(top-edged pull 43b, 4-4s)
C D Hopkinson lbw b Gibson 20
(working full-length ball to leg 50b, 3-4s)
M H Yardy not out 17
(60b, 3-4s)
M W Goodwin not out 38
(30b, 4-4s, 1-6)
Extras (lb2 nb14 pens 0) 16
Total 2 wkts (29.2 overs) 119
Fall: 1-57 2-57
To Bat: C J Adams, M J Prior, R S C Martin-Jenkins,
L J Wright, Naved-ul-Hasan, Mushtaq Ahmed, J D
Lewry.
Bonus Pts: Durham 0 Sussex 3
Bowling: Onions 8.2-0-38-0. Harmison 6-0-24-0.
Gibson 9-2-21-1. M L Lewis 5-1-23-1. Breese 1-0-11-0.