DURHAM have dropped Nicky Peng as they prepare to resume championship action after a month's break at Worcester tomorrow.

With a top score of 37 in nine innings and an average of 11.5, Peng has to make way for Martin Love, who will be playing his last game before returning to Australia for three weeks for the two Tests against Bangladesh.

Peng looked in good form after returning from Australia as part of the first ECB Academy intake, scoring a highly-responsible century at Derby in the second match of last season. But his top championship score since is 57, also against Derbyshire, at Darlington a year ago. "It's down to him to grasp the nettle," said coach Martyn Moxon. "It's not as if he hasn't been given the opportunities.

"He will play in the seconds on Thursday and Friday with the chance to get straight back in the first team because of Martin Love's absence.

"We don't want to stop him playing his shots because he's such a natural stroke-player, but he has to learn to concentrate for long periods.

"We want all our young batsmen to learn to bat for four or five hours and build an innings as Gordon Muchall did against India A.

"We are trying to get through to Nicky that at times his shot selection and execution are not what they should be. He has to start learning about that."

The four-day game against India A was washed out in early afternoon on the final day with the tourists on 95 for three in their second innings. There were only 66 spectators in the ground, of whom 65 were apparently members, and the action continued to send the blood coagulating through the veins. The fact that the tourists had not declared at lunchtime, when they led by 243 with 61 overs remaining, suggested they were not thinking of setting a target.

The fact that it was a slow pitch hadn't helped and Moxon said: "We have asked for pitches with more pace and bounce. The batsmen prefer it when the ball is coming on to the bat."

The tourists' coach, Sandeep Patil, said he was disappointed with his seamers, adding: "It is not an acceptable excuse for them to say that it was a flat pitch. They have to learn to adapt to any conditions if they want to have a Test future.

"Also our batters were a little over-cautious because they want to please the selectors. We got into a good position in the first innings and I felt we could have accelerated. You have to have targets in mind and achieve them. We didn't do that, which was why the declaration came late."

Patil was pleased with spinners Murali Kartik and Amit Mishra, who bowled 77 overs between them and took seven wickets. But he was surprised that Kartik bowled 12 no-balls and Mishra 11.

"I was shocked," he said. "I have looked at their records and they hardly ever bowl no-balls. It's a crime for spinners and our fines system means they are going to have to pay for it.

"They couldn't explain it, but perhaps they were getting excited when the wickets started to fall and they were rushing too much."

Resuming on three without loss, the tourists lost left-hander Gautam Gambhir in the day's fifth over when he tried to withdraw his bat from a Mark Davies delivery and played on. First innings century-maker Shiv Sunder Das again played well, making 31 of the first 47 runs with four fours before he sliced a drive off Nicky Hatch to backward point.

That brought in the equally diminutive 17-year-old Ambati Rayudu, tipped as a certain Test player, and he showed his class with an unbeaten 29. When off-spinner Nicky Phillips came on Rayudu danced down the pitch to drive a lovely straight four then stroked the next ball through the covers for three.

Hatch beat Wasim Jaffer's forward push to hit his off stump before wicketkeeper Parthiv Patel shared an unbroken stand of 43.

The rain arrived one over after lunch, but Patil said: "It has been a good start to the tour. We are very happy with everything Durham have done for us."

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