Durham v Yorkshire (C & G Trophy)

A CROWD of 5,000 were treated to a thrilling finish in the crucial C & G Trophy match at Riverside yesterday as Durham beat Yorkshire by two wickets off the last ball.

Although it was Jimmy Maher's unbeaten 124 which steered Durham past Yorkshire's 227 for four, it was left to Steve Harmison to face the final ball with three needed.

Facing his Ashes opponent Jason Gillespie he swished at an attempted leg-stump yorker and an inside edge just evaded diving wicketkeeper Gerard Brophy as the ball flew to the boundary.

With three games left, away to Nottinghamshire, Scotland, and Derbyshire, Durham's fourth home win in the competition left them as the main rivals for top spot in the northern group to Lancashire, who beat Scotland at The Grange.

Yorkshire have only two games left and look to be out of it, spelling agony for skipper Craig White, whose remarkable century yesterday transformed their fortunes as he switched from tortoise to hare in the last four overs, which yielded 58 runs.

He was very well supported by Tim Bresnan, who came in at 116 for four in the 36th over and contributed 47 off 42 balls to the unbroken stand of 111.

Their efforts should have been enough, but there was some sloppiness in the field by Yorkshire, Mitchell Claydon bowled five no-balls and Durham also benefited from superior captaincy.

The slow pitch allowed Dale Benkenstein to bowl straight through his ten overs for 25 runs, but Anthony McGrath, who bowls at a similar pace, was left with three overs unbowled for Yorkshire after conceding only 17 off seven overs.

Opening the innings after being put in, White did not reach 50 until the 43rd over, at which point he had hit only two fours and faced 118 balls.

Maher, timing the ball superbly from the outset, adopted the reverse approach as he scored 50 of Durham's first 57 runs before throttling back as wickets fell at the other end.

It was only with 15 balls of the Yorkshire innings left that White really cut loose in Harmison's final over. Watched by England bowling coach Kevin Shine, the paceman took two for seven in his first five overs, which included three wides, but his figures were spoilt by White hitting each of his last three balls to the boundary.

The first, off a slower ball, fell just short of the rope over extra cover, the next was a straight drive and the third was delicately run to third man. From the next two balls he faced, from Neil Killeen, White drove a four through extra cover and clipped the next to the mid-wicket boundary.

In the final over, bowled by Callum Thorp, White stepped inside a straight ball to flip it to the long leg boundary and a similar shot off the final ball just cleared Killeen at backward square leg to bring up the century.

White's second 50 came off 26 balls with nine fours and he scored 34 off the last 11 balls he faced. It was his second C & G century of the season following his 112 at Northampton.

Gareth Breese appeared to have struck a crucial blow when a limping Darren Lehmann, who had begun in dismissive mood against Thorp, reverse swept a catch straight to backward square leg.

After giving White 18 overs start Lehmann caught him on 29 when he scampered a single and was almost run out by Gary Pratt. But he then began to feel his right hamstring and was clearly impeded.

He had begun by shovelling the second ball he faced, from Thorp, over mid-wicket for four and continued with the usual improvisations in striking four more boundaries.

But once he began to limp it was all he could do to hobble singles, and with only 18 runs coming between the 30th and 35th overs there was little sign of the expected acceleration.

Lehmann then departed for 41 and didn't come out to field, so the Yorkshire physio will be working on both the Australian and Michael Vaughan to have them fit for the championship match against Middlesex at Southgate, starting on Wednesday.

In the 40th over Bresnan edged Breese for four then drove the next ball for six over long-on and two more runs made it easily the most productive over to date.

There was still no great urgency but the return of Gibson opened the floodgates with 17 coming off the 47th over, including four off the edge and four byes.

White was probably influenced by last season's totesport League match between the sides at Riverside, when Durham batted in similar vein to Yorkshire yesterday before the visitors paid the price for going for their shots too soon.

Durham kept faith with the team which beat Leicestershire last Monday, leaving out Mick Lewis, and again held back Harmison until the 13th over.

The Yorkshire openers had put on 49 when Matthew Wood edged to Phil Mustard in Harmison's second over. A backward square leg was posted for left-hander Michael Lumb, who obliged by clipping a catch straight to Jon Lewis in Harmison's next over.

McGrath departed second ball, caught low to his right by Mustard off a good ball from Thorp.

Three wickets had gone for four runs, but Lehmann saw no need for caution as he laid into Thorp and dominated a stand of 63 before Bresnan kept his captain company for the rest of the innings.

Undaunted by the late onslaught, Maher took three fours off Gillespie's opening over. He turned the first behind square and drove the next two through extra cover.

The total was 33 when Jon Lewis was bowled for four in the eighth over by a ball from Gillespie which kept low, then Gordon Muchall shuffled into the next one, which nipped in and had him lbw. After his glorious start to the season Muchall has made four runs in his last four innings.

Gary Pratt's struggles continued when Gillespie yorked him and after going for 12 off his first over the Australian finished his first spell with figures of 7-2-25-3 after starting the day with one for 136 in this competition.

He was replaced by Claydon, whose pace and bounce accounted for Benkenstein, who edged a throat ball to Brophy.

Breese's nerves were settled by an edged four off Claydon, who then bowled his second no-ball, allowing the Jamaican a free-hit which he smashed for a straight six. After making 22 Breese offered a gentle return catch to off-spinner Richard Dawson, who bowled very tightly in tandem with McGrath and was also left with three overs unbowled.

He was removed after Mustard got off the mark by driving him for six and while the return of the quicks accounted for Mustard and Ottis Gibson, Thorp followed his match-winning knock against Leicestershire by bringing victory within sight with 18 off 21 balls.

He was run out going for a risky second in the 48th over with 18 needed, but Harmison ensured that Maher's brilliant effort was not in vain.

Scorecard

Durham v Yorkshire at Riverside.

Yorkshire Innings
C White not out 101
(balls144, 11-4s)
M J Wood c Mustard b Harmison 19
(steep bounce, found edge, b41, 2-4s)
M J Lumb c J J B Lewis b Harmison 0
(clipped to backward square leg, b7)
A McGrath c Mustard b Thorp 0
(pushed forward, edged to keeper, b2)
D S Lehmann c Gibson b Breese 41
(reverse sweep to backward squareb64, 5-4s)
T T Bresnan not out 47
(b42, 3-4s, 1-6)
Extras (b4 lb7 w8 pens 0) 19
Total 4 wkts Innings Complete (50
overs) 227
Fall: 1-49 2-52 3-53 4-116
Did Not Bat: G L Brophy, R K J Dawson, M E
Claydon, J N Gillespie, G J Kruis.
Bowling: Killeen 9-1-33-0. Gibson 10-1-47-0.
Harmison 10-0-47-2. Thorp 7-0-42-1.
Benkenstein 10-2-25-0. Breese 4-0-22-1.

Durham Innings
J J Lewis b Gillespie 4
(played back, ball kept low, balls18)
J P Maher not out 124
(b138, 14-4s)
G J Muchall lbw b Gillespie 0
(trapped on crease, ball nipped back, b1)
G J Pratt b Gillespie 1
(yorked, b14)
D M Benkenstein c Brophy b Claydon 13
(steep bounce, edged to keeper, b23)
G R Breese c & b Dawson 22
(went down pitch, popped up gentle catch,
b42, 2-4s, 1-6)
P Mustard b Kruis 15
(got in tangle going down pitch, b30, 1-6)
O D Gibson c Wood b Claydon 4
(skied attempted pull, b12)
C D Thorp run out 18
(went back for risky second to long-on, b21, 1-4)
S J Harmison not out 7
(b6, 1-4)
Extras (b3 lb8 nb10 pens 0) 21
Total 8 wkts (50 overs) 229
Fall: 1-33 2-33 3-49 4-79 5-127 6-152 7-165
8-210
Did Not Bat: N Killeen.
Bowling: Kruis 9-0-42-1. Gillespie 10-2-41-3.
Bresnan 8-2-39-0. Claydon 9-0-57-2. Dawson 7-
0-22-1. McGrath 7-0-17-0.

Durham beat Yorkshire by two wickets