DURHAM captain Will Smith is instinctively opposed to the introduction of a conference system in county cricket, but concedes he is becoming more tolerant of change in the sport.

England and Wales Cricket Board chief executive David Collier is heading research into ways of reducing the volume of domestic first-class cricket, with a shift to three six-team conferences one of the options under discussion.

As the leader of a side who have won back-to-back county championships, Smith is naturally wary of any moves to tinker with the playing format.

Durham have thrived in the two-tier system, introduced in 2000, and Smith believes it has delivered the competitive cricket it was brought in to produce.

‘‘It seems to me that the two-divisional structure has worked well,’’ Smith said after overseeing a comprehensive 311-run win over MCC in the first match of the county season.

‘‘Two divisions seems to have served the purpose it was intended to serve.

‘‘Obviously the reason they are looking at trying other things is to cut down the amount of cricket which is being played, and that is something I do agree with in the general scheme of things.

‘‘But I can’t see that a threeconference structure would work that well.’’ Nevertheless, Smith accepts that cricket is a game which has been moving quickly, and dramatically, since the inception of Twenty20.

So much so that the game between the champion county and MCC was not only transplanted from Lord’s to Abu Dhabi this year, but also used as a trial for day/night cricket using pink balls.

And while Smith, 27, is content to describe himself as a traditionalist, his experiences at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium have helped persuade him to be receptive to new ideas.

‘‘I was slightly sceptical about the pink ball being used in this game and it’s played very well, so you’re always there to be proved wrong,’’ he added.

‘‘I’ll always be slightly cynical of change, which is probably quite an old-fashioned quality, but I do like the traditional values of cricket.

‘‘Saying that, you always have to try and be open to change.

‘‘If you do have experiments and they seem to work then why not go with it?

‘‘So much of cricket these days is moving on and evolving and you need to embrace that change as long as it is change for the right reasons.

That’s what I believe.’’ Smith was generally impressed by how the pink Kookaburra ball performed in its highest-profile trial to date, but outlined two key concerns.

He said: ‘‘The ball seemed to work well for the most part.

The only problems were the twilight period, when it is much harder to see, and last night when we had a bit of dew and the ball was like a sponge.

‘‘They are the two drawbacks for me at the moment. I don’t see how you can change those environmental factors too much, which would seem to be a problem, but if there are scientific ways of getting round that then I’m all for it.’’ Durham’s bowlers wasted no time in wrapping up a comprehensive 311-run victory.

The champions resumed on day four needing three more wickets and mopped up the tail in 45 minutes.

While the setting, a deserted Sheikh Zayed Stadium rather than a rainy Lord’s, was unfamiliar, Durham’s status as the side to beat in English cricket is fast becoming the norm.

They looked likely to wrap up victory inside three days until Tim Murtagh and Jon Lewis put on an unbroken 59- run stand for the eighth wicket on Wednesday.

But having delayed Durham’s inevitable triumph and ensured their bowlers would have to return for one final push in sapping heat, Lewis (32) threw away his wicket off the first ball of the day.

Ian Blackwell was the bowler, but he will take little satisfaction from the delivery, a slow long hop that Lewis somehow contrived to nick to wicketkeeper Phil Mustard.

Steve Harmison took only eight balls to add the wicket of Dean Cosker (14) at the other end.

Murtagh, now with only Steve Kirby for company, quickly added the 23 he needed to reach 50 and was dropped by Mustard off Harmison moments later.

He finished 55 not out as Kirby fell for 16 to 19-year-old leg-spinner Scott Borthwick, who picked up his fourth wicket of the innings and eighth of the match with a googly.

SCORECARD

MCC v Durham
At Abu Dhabi.

Overnight: Durham 459-9 dec (K J Coetzer
172, M J Di Venuto 131, B AStokes 51; D J
Malan 4-20) and 228-6 dec (C D Thorp 79
no, K J Coetzer 52no, P Mustard 50). MCC
162 (S G Borthwick 4-27) and 155-7.

MCC Second Innings
T J Murtagh not out 55
J Lewis c Mustard b Blackwell 32
D A Cosker lbw b S J Harmison 14
S P Kirby lbw b Borthwick 16
Extras (b3 nb2 pens 0) 5
Total (59 overs) 214
Fall: 1-7 2-15 3-20 4-44 5-73 6-89 7-96 8-
155 9-178
Bowling: Claydon 6-1-22-0. S J Harmison
11-2-39-2. Blackwell 25-8-70-4. Stokes 5-1-
23-0. Borthwick 12-1-57-4.

Durham beat MCC by 311 runs