DURHAM skipper Jon Lewis leapt to the defence of new overseas player Dewald Pretorius as play was washed out on the third day of the match against Gloucestershire at Riverside.

The South African paceman took one for 94 in 20 overs as the visitors piled up 341, but Lewis said: "I think all his travelling has caught up with him.

"From the South Africa A tour he flew from Australia to Johannesburg, had one day at home then flew to Madrid to catch a connection to London.

"Geoff Cook met him at the airport and drove him straight to Taunton where he played for us the next day. I would have excused him if he'd wanted a rest, but he was extremely keen to play and he did very well."

Lewis admitted his decision to try to break Gloucestershire's last-wicket pair on Thursday morning with the pace of Pretorius and Stephen Harmison had backfired.

"We had a good game plan for having a crack at Mike Smith, but Jack Russell is a master of those situations and protected him very well," said Lewis.

"Unfortunately Harmy hardly got the chance to bowl at Smith. It's not a part of the game I like when you are giving one player a single. I'm well aware of the down sides, but sometimes it's a necessity.

"Such situations can be demoralising, but there are tough times in any four-day game and that's when you need 11 fully switched-on players with good focus. You need the body language to be good when things are not going well."

Durham remain convinced that Russell, who made 65, was lbw offering no stroke to Danny Law on two and Tim Hancock, who hit 59, was run out on 17 by Gary Pratt.

"They were both important decisions, but you hope that over the course of a season these things even themselves out," said Lewis.

After three half-centuries in three championship innings, Lewis is pleased with his own form, but added: "It's disappointing I haven't gone on to make a hundred.

"In this game for the first seven or eight overs the hardness of the ball helped it to zip around and unfortunately we lost three wickets in that time.

"After that the slowness of the pitch meant the deviations were easier to handle but you still had to be watchful. Their attack will not blast you away, but they will work hard on you.

"With one day left we have to try to get the 62 runs to avoid the follow-on, then bat better second time. "After his exceptional hundred at Taunton, Gary Pratt knows he played an indifferent shot here and Michael Gough just needs some time at the crease. He was looking good in pre-season but needs to get some confidence back."

With the first Test against Zimbabwe still almost three weeks away, Durham have not yet had any instructions from the ECB to rest Harmison following the award of his England contract.

Lancashire's Jimmy Anderson also got a contract and the pair could be in opposition in Monday's National League clash at Riverside. Harmison said: "I want to give as much back to Durham as I can. I really want to play in the one-day games so that I can prove I'm capable of playing one-day international cricket."

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