Still raining

People always want to know what cricket writers do when it's raining. The standard answer is that it makes the job harder because we still have to find something to write about.

Yesterday I interviewed Dale Benkenstein, which is always a pleasure. After extending his contract for two years beyond the end of this season I wouldn't be surprised if Durham find a management role for him after that.

Geoff Cook will be 63 by then and will have had 24 years with Durham, although that certainly doesn't mean that he would be ready to retire.

Given cricket lovers' liking for statistics, there's a temptation to fall back on trawling records when the weather is bad. An interesting fact which has surfaced this morning is that Durham bowlers have only twice bagged five-wicket hauls in championship matches against Surrey.

I remember the first one well because the famous former Times correspondent, John Woodcock, was dicating the words: "No Durham bowler has yet taken a five-wicket haul this season" when Phil Bainbridge picked up his fifth at that precise moment.

That was 1993 and the second dates back to 1999, when Steve Harmison took five for 76 at the Oval in a match which Durham lost by 226 runs as Saqlain Mushtaq had match figures of 12 for 110.