DURHAM coach Geoff Cook last night declined to admit that his side are in a relegation fight after a three-day five-wicket defeat by Somerset at Taunton.

“The important thing in this situation is not to panic,”

he said. “We have only played six games and there are ten left so I’m not saying we’re going to win the championship or that we’re going to be relegated.

“We have to make a balanced assessment. We have some talented batsmen who all put in the necessary practice but are not managing to post big totals.

“There was an opportunity here on a good pitch for people to spend time at the crease and gain in confidence, but in some cases it was spurned.

“Before this week we had played in tricky conditions, then we got a really good start here with an opening stand of 158, only to commit harakiri.

We have been in a position to win most of our games but have not been ruthless enough.”

Durham had Will Smith bowling his off spin at the end, but Cook did not feel it was a mistake to leave out Scott Borthwick.

“We were in a position to win the game with the bat,” he said. “We brought Jamie Harrison in and he did really well and we wanted Steve Harmison to give us a cutting edge in the absence of Graham Onions.

“Steve bowled well today.

We felt he and Liam Plunkett had to be exposed and we hope it’s a step forward.”

Michael Di Venuto has joined the casualty list.

He was off the field yesterday with an Achilles problem, adding to Durham’s worries as Dale Benkenstein’s shoulder problem continues to cause concern.