Durham frustrated as Northamptonshire hang on for draw

IT’S never dull with Durham, but while almost all last season’s drama ended in wins they had to settle for a nerve-shredding draw at Northampton on Wednesday.

The hosts’ last pair of Rob Newton and Mohammad Azharullah survived for nine overs after Scott Borthwick had brought victory tantalisingly within sight by taking two wickets in two balls.

Hopes that Durham could spin their way to victory on a worn fourth-day pitch dried by unbroken sunshine proved groundless as Northants, whose target was 319 in 69 overs, closed on 205 for nine.

Needing five wickets in the final session, Durham met stubborn resistance from Newton, a 24-year-old Taunton-born right-hander who has struggled for four years since his first-class debut to fulfil his obvious potential.

Going in when Northants were rocking on 68 for three in the 17th over, he faced 137 balls in making 48 not out.

The pitch, in fact, showed less sign of wear than might have been expected and Durham gave off-spinner Gareth Breese only one over. He might have been effective against left-handers, but Northants have only two of those and Matthew Spriegel followed his first innings 97 with a duck.

Borthwick had sent down 13 overs of leg-spin without taking a wicket until Paul Collingwood recalled him with ten overs left.

Wicketkeeper David Murphy had stayed in for six overs without scoring but Borthwick had him smartly caught at short leg by Keaton Jennings with his fifth ball. Maurice Chambers pushed forward and was bowled by the next one.

The leg-spinner almost had Azharullah with four overs left when the Pakistani swept him and Graham Onions got a hand to the ball at leg slip.

Onions bowled three of the last nine overs but he had already sent down 17 and is still a little short of his best after a pre-season interrupted by blistered heels, although he deserved more than two wickets in an excellent post-lunch spell.

Durham weren’t helped when Phil Mustard spilled a regulation chance off Onions with James Middlebrook on 15 as the Yorkshireman completed his impressive all-round display by making 47.

Onions struck the timbers of both Kyle Coetzer and Spriegel and when he came back for a crucial second spell straight after tea he troubled David Willey.

The son of Sedgefield-born former England all-rounder Peter Willey was playing purely as a batsman because of a back problem, which required an injection on the second morning of the match.

But last year’s Twenty20 final match-winner didn’t seem inclined to knuckle down and wafted wide of off stump to edge a catch to Borthwick at second slip.

There appeared to be a heavy onus on Onions to finish the job, but as he began to flag so did the chances of Durham pulling off the sort of dramatic victory which became commonplace on their way to last year’s title.

Hopes had risen when Chris Rushworth struck with the last ball before tea, gaining an lbw verdict against Andrew Hall, who had hinted that Northants were still going for victory when he opened up with two fours.

Once Willey had also gone survival was all that mattered, although Steven Crook played a few shots before Jamie Harrison splattered his stumps.

Harrison was also recalled for two overs at the end, but Azharullah kept him out and the one consolation for Durham was that they managed to avert the threat of a points deduction for a slow over-rate.

Things did not go entirely to plan for Durham in the morning as their five remaining wickets went down for the addition of 66 runs in 90 minutes.

But the target was not too far short of what they would have wanted to set Northamptonshire, who reached 27 without loss in six overs before lunch.

Durham’s priority seemed to be ensuring they were not bowled out quickly and with Northants setting a defensive field there was a cat-and-mouse approach to the morning’s cricket.

The experienced Hall, well versed in one-day stifling, bowled throughout at one end.

Chambers was given a few overs, forcing Michael Richardson to play on for 59, before off-spinner Middlebrook took over and finished with five for 62.

Arshad, doubtless playing to instructions, curbed his natural instincts by scoring 17 off 61 balls as he and Breese carefully put on 42 in 17 overs.

After making 34 Breese pushed forward and was lbw to Hall, then Arshad went down the pitch to Middlebrook and was stumped.

Onions seemed to see little point in hanging around as he drove a return catch to Hall and the last four wickets had gone down for 13 when the same bowler had Rushworth caught behind.

Northants appeared to have shut up shop after Onions reduced them to 68 for three as Middlebrook and Newton put on 37 in 14 overs before the former drove at Arshad and sliced to backward point, where Breese held a tumbling catch.

The door was ajar at that point and it was prised a little further open when Rushworth removed Hall. But after so much went Durham’s way last season it wasn’t to be on this occasion.

SCORECARD

At Northampton.

Overnight: Northamptonshire 378 (M N W
Spriegel 97, K J Coetzer 53, S DPeters 51;
Usman Arshad 4-78). Durham 452 (P Mustard
91, M J Richardson 80,J Harrison 65,
G R Breese 62, K K Jennings 54) and 178-
5 (M J Richardson 53no; J D Middlebrook
4-39).

Durham Second Innings
M J Richardson b Chambers ..............59
G R Breese lbw b Hall ..........................34
Arshad st Murphy b Middlebrook .......17
J Harrison not out .............................10
G Onions c & b Hall ............................ 2
C Rushworth c Murphy b Hall .............. 1
Extras (b4 lb5 pens 0) ................. 9
Total (70 overs) ........................ 244
Fall: 1-8 2-38 3-108 4-126 5-172 6-189
7-231 8-235 9-242
Total Bonus Pts: Northamptonshire 6 Durham 6

Bowling: Chambers 14-1-44-2. Azharullah
7-1-27-0. Middlebrook 21-6-62-5. Crook
10-0-45-0. Hall 18-1-57-3.

Northamptonshire Second Innings
S D Peters c Mustard b Rushworth ......18
J D Middlebrook c Breese b Arshad .....47
K J Coetzer b Onions ..........................12
M N Spriegel b Onions ........................ 0
R I Newton not out .............................48
A J Hall lbw b Rushworth .....................13
D J Willey c Borthwick b Onions ...........16
S P Crook b Harrison ..........................21
D Murphy c Jennings b Borthwick ....... 0
M A Chambers b Borthwick ................ 0
Azharullah not out ............................14
Extras (b2 lb6 nb8 pens 0) ..........16
Total 9 wkts (69 overs)...............205
Fall: 1-33 2-60 3-68 4-105 5-125 6-147
7-180 8-186 9-186
Total Bonus Pts: Northamptonshire 6 Durham 6

Bowling: Onions 20-5-48-3. Rushworth 12-
3-38-2. Breese 1-0-8-0. Arshad 7-1-36-1.
Harrison 11-4-14-1. Borthwick 18-2-53-2.

Northamptonshire (11pts) drew with Durham (11pts)