THE agony goes on for Kyle Coetzer. Just under a year ago he lit up Lord’s with an innings of 61 as Durham won the Friends Provident Trophy; yesterday he was out first ball against Bangladesh A at Riverside.

He wasn’t the only failure in a Durham team which required an unbeaten 54 from skipper Gordon Muchall to guide them to a two-wicket win when their target was a mere 118.

Coetzer had flown back overnight from Belfast, where he is in the Scotland squad for the World Twenty20 qualifiers.

He scored 11 from 20 balls on Saturday as they were all out for 117 and lost by four wickets to Ireland.

It would have been no consolation to Coetzer to be bowled in Belfast by the medium pace of Andre Botha, a player he will know from South African cricket who took three for 18 and scored 38 as Ireland won off the last ball.

Zimbabwe’s absence from next year’s World Twenty20 in England means that three of the teams from the Belfast tournament will qualify and Scotland stayed on course yesterday by beating Bermuda in Coetzer’s absence.

He headed for the Riverside nets with coaches Jon Lewis and Alan Walker following his first-ball dismissal, which resulted from an edge to first slip when he was aiming to leg.

His performances last season appeared to have nailed down the No 3 spot in the Durham order for Coetzer, but after totalling 48 runs in six championship innings this season he was dropped.

He is averaging 30 from five Second XI Championship knocks and yesterday’s match should have given him a chance to re-state his claims.

But it quickly became apparent that, for all the Bangladeshis’ enthusiasm, their lack of quality would make it difficult for Durham’s fringe players to make any kind of meaningful statement.

In fact, the opposite happened as, other than Muchall, none of the batsmen did themselves any favours with several getting out carelessly.

Durham did not release any players last season, but despite continuing success four or five of the squad look unlikely to have a first-class future.

Going for some ambitious shots in the 50-over game, Bangladesh A slumped to 39 for six and only a last-wicket stand of 38 carried them to 117.

There were three wickets for Mitch Claydon and two each for Graham Onions, Mark Davies and Will Gidman, with Gareth Breese holding a brilliant return catch to finish the innings.

Although still not back to his excellent early-season form, Onions’ wickets came from successive balls, the second one resulting from an acrobatic catch by Muchall at second slip. The batsman, Raqibul Hasan, appeared dismayed by the decision and walked off rubbing his chest.

Mark Stoneman, the only current first team regular in the Durham line-up, got the reply off to a brisk start with 21 off 17 balls. But a top-edged pull to the wicketkeeper saw three wickets go down for three runs.

Coetzer was swiftly followed back to the pavilion by Uzair Mahomed, who opened the innings and scored three before a yorker from left-arm bowler Sajidul Islam took out his leg stump.

Coming in at 29 for three, Garry Park helped Muchall to add 17 but never looked settled and became the first of three victims in an over for the lively Rubel Hossain.

Park edged to the wicketkeeper then Gidman, who needs to make runs to have any chance of challenging Ben Harmison for the fourth seamer’s spot, drove loosely at his second ball and also edged behind.

The tourists were jubilant as a third wicket went down on the same total when Breese was lbw on the front foot.

Wicketkeeper Lee Goddard contributed 16 to a stand of 35 with Muchall before slapping a catch to point, and Claydon’s swift demise made it 98 for eight before Onions provided the necessary support.

Muchall reached 50 with his ninth four, lofted over cover, then drove another one down the ground to seal victory.

Whether he has a first-class future with Durham is uncertain, but he would certainly do a job somewhere.

SCOREBOARD

Durham v Bangladesh A At Riverside

Bangladesh A

Iqbal c Goddard b Onions ....................18

Siddique c Muchall b Claydon ............. 5

Rajin Saleh lbw b Gidman ..................... 4

Raqibul Hasan c Muchall b Onions ....... 0

Shakib Al Hasan b Davies .................... 8

Naeem Islam c Goddard b Gidman ...... 0

Dhiman Ghosh c Muchall b Claydon ....24

Mosharraf Hossain not out ...................26

Mahmud c Onions b Claydon .............. 7

Sajidul Islam b Davies .......................... 1

Rubel Hossain c & b Breese ................14

Extras (lb3 w5 nb2 pens 0)..........10

Total (39.5 overs) ...................117

Fall: 1-18 2-29 3-29 4-39 5-39 6-39 7-69 8-78 9-79

Bowling: Claydon 10-3-31-3. Onions 10-5- 18-2. Gidman 6-1-21-2. Davies 8-1-29-2. Breese 3.5-0-9-1. Park 2-0-6-0.

Durham

M D Stoneman c D Ghosh b S Islam ....21

U Mahomed b Sajidul Islam ................. 3

K J Coetzer c Rajin Saleh b Mahmud ... 0

G J Muchall not out ..............................54

G T Park c D Ghosh b Rubel Hossain ... 2

W R Gidman c D Ghosh b R Hossain ... 0

G R Breese lbw b Rubel Hossain .......... 0

L J Goddard c N Islam b Mahmud ........16

M E Claydon b Mahmud ....................... 2

G Onions not out .................................. 9

Extras (lb4 w6 nb4 pens 0)..........14

Total 8 wkts (31 overs)...........121

Fall: 1-26 2-26 3-29 4-46 5-46 6-46 7-81 8-98 Did Not Bat: M Davies.

Bowling: Mahmud 10-1-44-3. Sajidul Islam 10-1-32-2. Rubel Hossain 6-3-13-3. Shakib Al Hasan 3-0-19-0. Mosharraf Hossain 2-0- 9-0.

Durham beat Bangladesh A by 2 wkts.