Durham held to a draw as Adams hits century

Onions is reported to have come through every test with flying colours since his back operation and on yesterday’s evidence Durham need his penetration.

Steve Harmison will see a specialist today about his left forearm, which was damaged while batting on the second morning against Hampshire.

An X-ray revealed no break but it was still very sore yesterday and was said to be restricting his mobility, which was why he didn’t take the field.

With the pitch remaining docile and surprisingly unresponsive to spin for a fourthday surface, Durham failed to take a wicket in the morning session.

Given that they had 489 runs to play with, it was surprising that Scott Borthwick was kept out of the attack until he bowled the penultimate over before lunch, when Liam Dawson pulled his first ball for six.

In the first over on the resumption the leg-spinner had Dawson caught at short leg by substitute Joe Coyne, a Durham Academy boy.

Durham were suddenly given a glimmer of hope when Hampshire’s second and third wickets went down in successive balls with the total on 242.

But it was the faintest glimmer and had expired by tea.

Left-hander Jimmy Adams, out first ball in the first innings, departed for 105 to the last ball of a Borthwick over when he top-edged a sweep to Liam Plunkett at short fine leg.

Off the first ball of the next over Johan Myburgh drove at Ian Blackwell and edged to Michael Di Venuto at slip to fall for 42.

Myburgh is clearly a strokeplayer and had he stayed until the end Hampshire might have got somewhere near to their 490 target. But the shutters went up on his exit as Neil McKenzie and James Vince added only three runs in the next five overs.

Perhaps in an attempt to keep them interested, Durham then took the unusual step of taking the new ball but persisting with spin.

McKenzie immediately drove Blackwell for two fours then Vince repeated the treatment to Borthwick and at tea Hampshire were 275 for three, still 212 behind.

The final day was a big anticlimax after all the drama and excitement provided by Ben Stokes on Sunday.

He bowled for the first 50 minutes, but Durham had to be wary of asking too much of him. Following his Sunday heroics he had blistered toes and a sore shoulder after colliding with Gordon Muchall while running a single.

Stokes could not be kept entirely quiet, however, and with the game drifting towards stalemate after tea he clung on to a reflex catch at short extra cover off a fullblooded drive by Vince.

It gave Blackwell a second wicket, but the experience of McKenzie and Nic Pothas offered no further hint of success until the second over of the final hour.

McKenzie tried to pull a short ball from Plunkett and gloved a leg-side catch to Phil Mustard. Plunkett was bowling round the wicket and summoning some aggression, but it was too late and his wicket merely delayed by a few overs the inevitable handshake as the sides agreed on a draw with Hampshire on 345 for five.

While Adams and Dawson were putting on 171 it was reminiscent of the early season stands on flat pitches last year. If there are to be more such surfaces following the dry spell Durham will need Harmison and Onions firing in tandem.

Adams was on 54 when a miscued pull off Stokes dropped just short of midwicket and Dawson was on 47 when he almost played on to Blackwell’s first ball of the day.

Otherwise there were few scares for the opening pair and they dealt comfortably with Callum Thorp and Plunkett, who shared the workload from the M27 end.

Hampshire moved on from their overnight score of 87 to 171 without loss at lunch.

Dawson departed for 70, and Adams might have gone on 96 when a fierce pull off Borthwick hit Coyne, at short leg, on the helmet and almost carried to mid-wicket.

An off-driven four brought up Adams’ century and it was a surprise when he departed.

But he had taken Hampshire within sight of safety.

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) and 310-3dec (B A Stokes 135 no, D
M Benkenstein 55 no, G J Muchall 52).
Hampshire294 (N D McKenzie 75, N Pothas
56, L A Dawson 50; B A Stokes 6-68) and
87-0.
Hampshire Second Innings
J H Adams c Plunkett b Borthwick 105
L A Dawson c Sub b Borthwick 70
J G Myburgh c Di Venuto b Blackwell 42
N D McKenzie c Mustard b Plunkett 43
J M Vince c Stokes b Blackwell 14
N Pothas not out 14
S M Ervine not out 22
Extras (b12 lb9 w2 nb12 pens 0) 35
Total 5 wkts (113 overs) 345
Fall: 1-171 2-242 3-242 4-288 5-312
Did Not Bat: D G Cork, S P Jones, D R Briggs,
F de Wet.
Total Bonus Pts: Hampshire 5 Durham 8
Bowling: Thorp 24-10-46-0. S J Harmison
3-0-23-0. Plunkett 20-5-64-1. Blackwell 30-
13-50-2. Stokes 9-0-46-0. Borthwick 27-6-
95-2.
Hampshire (8pts) drew with Durham (11pts)