UNDER threat from the return of Martin Love, Gordon Muchall battled hard yesterday to hang on to his Durham place.

With Love due back from Australia tomorrow and expected to play in Sunday's National League game, Muchall scored 65 on a truncated first day against Somerset at Riverside.

His exit sparked a mini-collapse as Durham slipped from 141 for two to 146 for five, to which Nicky Peng and Phil Mustard added 18 runs before the rain arrived in mid-afternoon.

Unfortunately, Muchall's first championship half-century since making 74 against Worcestershire at Stockton in May did not provide a compelling case for his retention.

Several of the seven fours in his 50 came off the edge, twice miscued pulls fell into space when they could have gone to hand, and on 41 he went perilously close to playing on when trying another pull.

He was due some luck, and having pluckily ridden what was on offer he was beginning to blossom when Steffan Jones swung one inside his attempted straight drive to bowl him.

Muchall had done a valuable job after coming in following the first-over loss of skipper Jon Lewis and put on 88 for the third wicket with Gary Pratt.

One of them needed to go on, but Pratt fell for 51 in the next over, when he pushed forward and was bowled through the gate by rare turn from left-arm spinner Ian Blackwell.

It is an even rarer sight to see three middle-order men clean bowled in the space of four overs, but when Jones moved another one in Vince Wells lost his middle stump.

Jones could not get in the Somerset team at the start of the season and has not exactly flourished since replacing the injured Simon Francis. But he bowled well yesterday, beating Pratt four times in one over when he first came in and getting past Mustard's outside edge a couple of times in an otherwise confident start by the wicketkeeper.

Opening batsman Peter Bowler has joined Somerset's casualties, while Matthew Wood and Keith Dutch were dropped after the two-day defeat at Northampton.

Batsman Tom Webley and all-rounder Wes Durston, who bowls left-arm spin, were handed their championship debuts, while chief executive Peter Anderson made a rare visit to an away match to witness the effect of the letter he sent to ten players threatening them with the sack.

Somerset looked lively enough, even though morale could have been sapped by the loss of wicketkeeper Rob Turner in the fourth over.

He was running up to the stumps to collect a throw-in when he twisted an ankle and limped off, handing over the gloves to skipper Mike Burns, who used to keep wicket for Warwickshire.

After winning the toss, Lewis lasted only five balls before Nixon McLean nipped one back to hit his off stump.

Muchall and Michael Gough both edged the West Indian wide of third slip for four in the seventh over, and with the Lumley End appearing to offer more life, Richard Johnson initially bowled only three overs at the Finchale End.

When he returned in place of McLean, Muchall edged his first ball through the slips for four, but the England man had his reward when Gough played back and edged him to second slip.

As he has tended to do since his superb 150 against Northants, Pratt looked a little over-confident. Apart from playing and missing at balls he could have left alone, he was lucky to earn four overthrows when he called for a dodgy single to cover.

On 21 he was badly missed at second slip by Durston off the gentle pace of Laraman, but after going into lunch on 25 he was quickly finding the middle of the bat on the resumption.

Muchall completed his 50 off 116 balls and Pratt reached the target off 84 with a lovely back-foot shot through extra cover off Blackwell.

It produced his ninth four, but the promise of many more to come quickly vanished.

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