UNLESS Ben Stokes can produce more magic, Durham will need some wizardry from spinners Ian Blackwell and Scott Borthwick if they are to beat Hampshire today.

The Rose Bowl pitch showed no sign of wear on the third day and after being set a target of 489 to win the hosts had little difficulty in surviving 20 overs to reach 86 without loss.

It doesn’t help that both sides have depleted attacks.

Almost as astonishing as Stokes’ exhibition of allround brilliance was the acceleration of the casualty rate among professional cricketers.

Mark Stoneman broke a hand in the morning fielding drill on Saturday, then Steve Harmison suffered a blow on the left forearm while batting.

An X-ray revealed no break, but he felt unable to take the field yesterday morning.

Then it was Hampshire’s turn to suffer as the injuryplagued Simon Jones limped off in his second over when Durham declined to enforce the follow-on, despite a lead of 179.

Dominic Cork completed the over but after bowling 14 balls he pulled up himself and had to make way for Sean Ervine. The home captain stayed on the field but did not bowl again.

Briggs apart, Hampshire generally went through the motions thereafter, but that should not detract from the astonishing performance by Stokes.

His combination of power and timing made run-scoring look easy, one four off Ervine requiring no more than a wristy flick to send it racing through mid-wicket. There were even two perfect reverse sweeps for four off Briggs.

Stokes scored 52 of the runs in a stand of 88 with Gordon Muchall, who again batted well but for the second time in the match failed to build on his half-century, falling for 52 when he drove a return catch to occasional off-spinner Johan Myburgh.

Dale Benkenstein followed his first-innings century with an unbeaten 55, but it was Stokes’ day almost from the moment he was called on to bowl the second over.

If powerful all-rounders in the mould of Botham and Flintoff fail with one of their strings they atone with the other and Stokes made spectacular amends after contributing ten runs to Durham’s 473 in the first innings.

His previous best figures were the two for 32 he took at home to Hampshire last April and he had little opportunity to press his claims as a bowler with England Lions over the winter.

But he certainly bears comparison with Freddie Flintoff in his bowling style and the deceptive pace was evident from the way he spreadeagled last man Jones’ stumps.

After Callum Thorp bowled the first over the new ball was due and Stokes took it.

There was no sign of what was to come in his first over, but after adding 12 runs to their overnight 280 for six Hampshire lost their four remaining wickets in ten balls with the only addition to the total coming from a Stokes noball.

Thorp had Nic Pothas lbw for 56, then Stokes appeared to pin Cork plumb in front with an in-swinger, only for the home captain to be saved by the call of “no-ball.”

The next delivery was an action replay without the accompanying call and Cork was on his way. Two balls later steep bounce forced Briggs to edge to Phil Mustard and two balls after that Jones’ stumps were splattered.

Scott Borthwick opened Durham’s second innings in the absence of Stoneman and contributed 13 to a stand of 45 before hooking Ervine to long leg.

In the last over before lunch Michael Di Venuto fell for 40 when he edged a drive to slip off Briggs, paving the way for Stokes to resume centre stage afterwards. The only blemish on his day was failing to take a wicket in the evening.

SCORECARD

Hampshire v Durham
At The Rose Bowl.
Overnight: Durham 473 (D M Benkenstein
118, P Mustard 68 no, I DBlackwell 62, G J
Muchall 62, M D Stoneman 51; D R Briggs
5-129). Hampshire280-6 (N D McKenzie 75,
N Pothas 50 no, L A Dawson 50).

Hampshire First Innings
N Pothas lbw b Thorp 56
D G Cork lbw b Stokes 15
F de Wet not out 0
D R Briggs c Mustard b Stokes 0
S P Jones b Stokes 0
Extras (lb7 w2 nb6 pens 0) 15
Total (83 overs) 294
Fall: 1-0 2-47 3-143 4-171 5-190 6-261 7-
292 8-294 9-294
Bowling: Thorp 16-4-58-2. Plunkett 19.4-4-
76-1. S J Harmison 0.2-0-2-0. Stokes 13-0-
68-6. Blackwell 26-11-62-1. Borthwick 8-1-
21-0.
Durham Second Innings
M J Di Venuto c McKenzie b Briggs 40
S G Borthwick c de Wet b Ervine 13
G J Muchall c & b Myburgh 52
B A Stokes not out 135
D M Benkenstein not out 55
Extras (b3 lb5 w1 nb6 pens 0) 15
Total 3 wkts dec (67.5 overs) 310
Fall: 1-45 2-82 3-170
Bowling: S P Jones 1.3-0-6-0. de Wet 12-0-
46-0. Cork 2.2-1-3-0. Ervine 14-0-69-1.
Briggs 26-1-99-1. Myburgh 6-1-30-1. Dawson
6-1-49-0.
Hampshire Second Innings Close
J H Adams not out 47
L A Dawson not out 35
Extras (lb1 w2 nb2 pens 0) 5
Total 0 wkts (20 overs) 87
Bonus Pts: Hampshire 5 Durham 8
Bowling: Thorp 5-1-9-0. S J Harmison 3-0-
23-0. Plunkett 2-0-19-0. Blackwell 5-0-14-
0. Stokes 3-0-16-0. Borthwick 2-0-5-0.