Durham v Surrey (LV County Championship) : Day Two

SKILL and experience are a potent blend, as Durham found to their cost when former England pair Mark Ramprakash and Mark Butcher came together at Riverside yesterday.

But just when it seemed they would take the game away from Durham both perished late in the day to leave the match finely balanced.

Butcher fell for 65 to the fifth ball of the final over, edging Neil Killeen low to first slip, where Neil McKenzie held a good catch.

That left Surrey on 123 for four, 101 behind, and it was just reward for Killeen, who previously had cause to reflect that it helps to be blessed with a little luck.

His best balls tend to beat the bat, but Ramprakash, on nine, was good enough to get an edge, only for the man who scores runs for fun to survive when Phil Mustard spilled the sort of chance he normally devours.

Graham Onions had ripped out the openers with only 18 on the board, but the third-wicket pair put on 99 before Onions returned and persuaded the cautious Ramprakash to go for a forcing back-foot shot, which he edged at comfortable height to McKenzie.

With a further two hours lost to rain in the morning following the loss of half a day on Wednesday, the match should be heading for a draw, but given two fine days there is much to play for.

Steve Harmison was comfortably out-bowled by Onions when they shared the new ball. The fourth delivery of the innings flew so far wide of left-hander Scott Newman's off stump that Mustard had to fling himself full length to reach it.

Harmison shrugged that off and settled down, but although he conceded only five runs in his opening five-over burst the wicket-taking threat was clearly coming from the other end.

After Newman off-drove Onions for four the next ball was edged through the slips and he then survived an impassioned appeal for lbw.

The next shout, in Onions' third over, was barely necessary as Jon Batty's lack of footwork saw him pinned in front of middle stump.

In the same over Newman had his bat aloft when the ball nipped back to trim his off stump, but Ramprakash survived an appeal for caught behind off Onions on one to settle in comfortably.

Butcher showed fine judgement in either leaving the ball or putting it away effortlessly for four and easily outscored his partner.

He took three fours off Onions' eighth over and usually found the boundary once an over when Mark Davies took over.

Davies looked more comfortable bowling to the right-handed Ramprakash and beat him twice in the teens as the man seeking his 99th first-class century allowed Butcher to dominate.

Butcher had nine fours in his 82-ball half-century, two of them pulled off Harmison in his second spell as he posted a short leg and aimed for the batsman's ribs.

This spell lasted only four overs before Paul Wiseman came on and turned one past Butcher's outside edge. But the recall of Killeen proved an inspired move.

Considering that Durham's fourth wicket pair of Dale Benkenstein and Mark Stoneman put on 141, it was not a great effort by the rest of the batsmen.

They had to contend with more rain interruptions yesterday and after a delayed start Stoneman was obviously not in the same groove as the previous day.

He added one run to his overnight 58 before he was out in the day's eighth over, and after playing and missing several times it was no surprise when he edged Pedro Collins to Jimmy Ormond, who took his second excellent catch at third slip.

Ormond also put in a probing spell from the Lumley End and deservedly took the wicket of Benkenstein for 67 with a ball which left the captain off the pitch to take the edge.

It is quite possible that the concept of a quandary does not register in Mustard's consciousness, otherwise he might have considered that he was in one.

He knows he needs to build lengthy innings, yet he had barely arrived at the crease before he was left with a five-man tail.

Mustard did well to dig out a couple of early yorkers from Collins, but otherwise showed little inclination to build any fortifications.

He might have shown a little more faith in Wiseman, who shaped as though he might be a competent No 7. But after hitting four fours in reaching 22 off 23 balls, Mustard cut Matt Nicholson straight to backward point.

The introduction of the slippery Chris Jordan cleaned out the tail, with the help of Onions trying to pull a short ball from Matt Nicholson and skying it to the wicketkeeper.

Wiseman followed one wide of off stump to edge to Batty, then a Jordan yorker rattled Davies' off stump and he also rattled Killeen's timber.

SCORECARD
Durham v Surrey
At Riverside.
Overnight: Durham 144-3 (D M Benkenstein 58 no, M D Stoneman 58 no).
Durham First Innings
M D Stoneman c Ormond b Collins 59
D M Benkenstein c Batty b Ormond 67
P Mustard c Newman b Nicholson 22
P J Wiseman c Batty b Jordan 21
G Onions c Batty b Nicholson 8
M Davies b Jordan 1
S J Harmison not out 9
N Killeen b Jordan 1
Extras (b1 lb6 nb24 pens 0) 31
Total (74.3 overs) 224
Fall: 1-1 2-9 3-13 4-154 5-162 6-185 7-209
8-213 9-218
Bowling: Collins 25-7-78-3. Nicholson 18-5-
43-2. Jordan 11.3-1-32-3. Saqlain Mushtaq
4-0-17-0. Ormond 16-3-47-1.
Surrey First Innings Close
S A Newman b Onions 11
J N Batty lbw b Onions 5
M R Ramprakash c McKenzie b Onions 31
M A Butcher c McKenzie b Killeen 65
U Afzaal not out 1
Extras (b4 lb3 w1 nb2 pens 0) 10
Total 4 wkts (46.5 overs)123
Fall: 1-17 2-18 3-117 4-123
To Bat: A D Brown, M J Nicholson, C J Jordan,
J Ormond, Saqlain Mushtaq, P T
Collins.
Bonus Pts: Durham 1 Surrey 3
Bowling: S J Harmison 9-3-25-0. Onions 15-
5-50-3. Killeen 11.5-3-20-1. Davies 8-3-19-0.
Wiseman 3-1-2-0.