The bad old days return for Durham

DURHAM returned to the days of their worst Riverside nightmares yesterday when they suffered an astonishing collapse against Sussex.

They crashed from 47 without loss to 80 all out to lose by an innings and 39 runs to the division one leaders inside five sessions.

It was their third lowest total in first-class cricket and after an encouraging start to life in division one it was a dispiriting way to say goodbye to Steve Harmison for the rest of the season after he bowled them briefly back into contention.

Impressive though his efforts were, however, he was again overshadowed by the wizardry of Mushtaq Ahmed, who blunted Durham's fightback in his first over.

Helped by two shots of questionable wisdom, the Pakistani leg-spinner took three wickets in four balls after Durham, trailing by 119 on first innings, had reached 47 without loss.

It was as though they had decided not to let him dominate as Jimmy Maher went to cut his third ball and Chris Adams held the sharp chance at slip.

Gordon Muchall went well forward to the next ball and for the second time in the match was given out by Peter Hartley. After starting the season with a double hundred and a century, Muchall bagged a pair in this match, but he departed more readily this time, perhaps realising that greeting a raised finger with a look of surprise can sometimes backfire.

Two balls later Gary Pratt, also looking to get on top of Mushtaq, attempted a sweep and top-edged it to mid-wicket.

His last two victims were both stumped as he finished with five for 12 and match figures of ten for 37, while the other five wickets went to his fellow Pakistani Rana Naved-ulHasan.

It was a difficult pitch to bat on as rain had prevented the groundstaff from working on it for the three days before the match.

Mushtaq replaced Rana at the Lumley End, but after a brief rest Rana returned at the Finchale End and Benkenstein fenced at a ball just outside off stump and edged it to first slip.

In Rana's next over Gareth Breese edged to second slip, then Phil Mustard stepped across his stumps and was lbw.

Jon Lewis, who had started very fluently and was on 25 when the first wicket fell, was seventh out for 28 when he advanced to drive Mushtaq and missed what became a yorker to be stumped by Matt Prior.

When Rana then produced a fast, swinging yorker to take out Ottis Gibson's off stump, batsmen three to eight had mustered 13 runs between them.

At 66 for eight Durham were still one short of their lowest total in first-class cricket, made at Lord's in 1996. A lofted drive for four off Rana by Graham Onions took them past that landmark and he also drove Mushtaq for four before going down the pitch to become the second stumping victim.

Rana completed the misery by having Mick Lewis lbw with the first ball of the 30th over, the first wicket not having fallen until the 17th.

Harmison was left on three not out at the end of a day which he began by swapping ends from the previous evening to bowl from the Lumley End with the chilly wind coming from his right.

The early signs were not promising. He had two off-side wides in his second over, either side of visiting skipper Adams fending him just out of the reach of gully and backward point.

Shortly afterwards a heavy five-minute shower forced the only break of the day. It might not have freshened up the pitch as the groundsman was swiftly out of the blocks with the covers, but the short break didn't seem to do Harmison any harm.

In his fourth over of the day he snared Murray Goodwin for 42 when the little Zimbabwean pushed forward and edged low to Mustard.

There were high fives all round, then in his next over Harmison produced an even better ball, which bounced steeply and left the inform Prior to give Mustard a more comfortable catch.

Four overs later Adams, who never looked settled, drove Harmison through the covers for four then played round a ball of almost yorker length to be lbw.

Robin Martin-Jenkins was fortunate to come in towards the end of Harmison's spell as he didn't appear to relish the confrontation after edging just short of first slip then being beaten by a very quick ball.

The figures for Harmison's spell were 8-413-3 when he was rested and Martin-Jenkins celebrated by taking three fours in an over off Gibson.

Sussex also appeared to find it easier facing Mick Lewis than Onions, who made the breakthrough in the day's third over after Sussex resumed on 119 for two.

Left-hander Michael Yardy padded up to a ball which skidded on and had him patently lbw. Adams survived a very confident lbw appeal in the same over before getting off the mark with an edge for three.

After the rain break Adams survived a sharp return chance as Onions knocked the ball up with one hand and narrowly failed to grasp it with the other.

After replacing Onions, Lewis continued his habit of producing a good ball out of the blue when he had Luke Wright caught by Mustard in his fourth over.

Martin-Jenkins edged Gibson through the recently-vacated second slip position then drove him to mid-on, where Harmison failed to hang on to a difficult chance.

Gibson made no mistake under a swirler at third man when Rana went for a huge drive off Lewis to make it 211 for eight at lunch.

Harmison returned after the break and the first ball brought a big appeal for lbw with Martin-Jenkins on 47. The batsman then played an uncontrolled hook down to deep backward square and when Mushtaq went back for a second run Onions threw to the non-striker's end, where Martin-Jenkins had stood his ground.

Onions deservedly took the last wicket when Martin-Jenkins was lbw for 49, the top score of an extraordinary match.

Scorecard

Durham v Sussex at Riverside

Overnight: Durham 110 (Mushtaq Ahmed 5-25, Navedul-
Hasan 4-28). Sussex 119-2.

Sussex First Innings
M H Yardy lbw b Onions 17
(padded up to straight one, balls, balls65, 3-4s)
M W Goodwin c Mustard b Harmison 42
(pushed forward, edged low to keeper, b49, 4-4s, 1-6)
C J Adams lbw b Harmison 19
(played round yorker-length ball, b30, 3-4s)
M J Prior c Mustard b Harmison 2
(steep bounce, b8)
R S Martin-Jenkins lbw b Onions 49
(played across full-length ball, b83, 6-4s)
L J Wright c Mustard b M L Lewis 1
(pushed forward, edged to keeper, b20)
Naved ul-Hasan c Gibson b M L Lewis 7
(skied to third man, b23)
Mushtaq Ahmed c Muchall b Harmison 8
(fended to gully, b16, 1-4)
J D Lewry not out 0
(b3)
Extras (b4 lb10 w2 nb20 pens 0) 36
Total (63.2 overs) 229
Fall: 1-57 2-57 3-123 4-135 5-137 6-158 7-181 8-207
9-227
Bowling: Onions 17.2-1-67-2. Harmison 17-5-43-4. Gibson
15-4-51-1. M L Lewis 13-4-43-3. Breese 1-0-11-0.

Durham Second Innings
J J Lewis st Prior b Mushtaq Ahmed 28
(yorked himself by going down pitch, b74, 4-4s)
J P Maher c Adams b Mushtaq Ahmed 22
(edged cut to slip, b47, 3-4s)
G J Muchall lbw b Mushtaq Ahmed 0
(well forward, b1)
G J Pratt c Wright b Mushtaq Ahmed 0
(top-edged sweep to square leg, b2)
D M Benkenstein c Adams b Naved-ul-Hasan 7
(fenced outside off stump, edged to slip, b16, 1-4)
G R Breese c Adams b Naved-ul-Hasan 4
(pushed forward, edged to slip, b4, 1-4)
P Mustard lbw b Naved-ul-Hasan 0
(stepped across stumps, b3)
O D Gibson b Naved-ul-Hasan 2
(swinging yorker, b2)
S J Harmison not out 3
(b14)
G Onions st Prior b Mushtaq Ahmed 9
(danced down pitch, b9, 2-4s)
M L Lewis lbw b Naved-ul-Hasan 2
(played round straight one, b3)
Extras (b1 lb2 pens 0) 3
Total (29.1 overs) 80
Fall: 1-47 2-47 3-47 4-58 5-62 6-62 7-66 8-66 9-77
Total Bonus Pts: Durham 3 Sussex 4
Bowling: Naved-ul-Hasan 9.1-0-42-5. Lewry 3-0-9-0. Martin-
Jenkins 7-1-9-0. Wright 3-1-5-0. Mushtaq Ahmed 7-4-
12-5.

Sussex (18pts) beat Durham (3pts) by an innings
and 39 runs