IT WAS Ian Blackwell and Jamie Harrison on his first-class debut, rather than the returning ex-England men, who kept Durham afloat at Taunton yesterday.

The struggles of Steve Harmison and Liam Plunkett meant Durham lacked the resources to press home their mid-afternoon advantage and Somerset reached 357 for eight, only 27 behind.

Harrison took a wicket with his ninth ball and picked up two more on a day when runs flowed under a cloudless sky on a perfect batting surface.

The young left-armer’s performance was slightly tarnished by nine no-balls, but he was supremely accurate in comparison with Harmison and Plunkett, whose combined figures were one for 129 in 23 overs.

Harmison took that wicket with a poor ball, having Alex Barrow caught down the leg side by Phil Mustard. But there were signs of improvement in his second spell, when his mixed bag included a couple of balls worthy of wickets.

The man enjoying the luck was 18-year-old Craig Overton, whose maiden half-century came off only 54 balls and revived Somerset after they lost three wickets for ten runs.

They had slipped to 209 for six, at which point Durham had every cause to be delighted.

But Overton put on 99 with Peter Trego, who went on to make an unbeaten 67.

Somerset were flying along on 199 for three when Blackwell suddenly took two wickets.

Nick Compton began the day needing 131 for 1,000 firstclass runs this season and it was a shock when he departed for 64.

He had been cutting Blackwell with ease whenever the spinner dropped short, but suddenly attempted a pull from off stump and found himself cramped as he lobbed a catch to short mid-wicket.

In Blackwell’s next over Jos Buttler shaped to cut and edged to Phil Mustard, then Craig Kieswetter fell for 42, although he was well forward to Callum Thorp and clearly didn’t like umpire Jeremy Lloyds’ lbw decision.

Kieswetter scored his runs off only 41 balls but he was positively pedestrian compared with James Hildreth, who thrashed a 35-ball halfcentury.

It was reminiscent of Durham’s reckless approach after tea on the first day as Hildreth got carried away and lost his leg stump when trying to whip Harrison through mid-wicket.

Harrison was entrusted with the first over and his ninth ball swung in to have Arul Suppiah lbw. He looked unlucky not to have a second in his third over when a swinging yorker hit Barrow on the boot. But this time umpire Martin Saggers, the former Durham and Kent bowler, turned down the impassioned appeal.

Harrison also ended the damaging seventh-wicket stand when he had Overton caught behind and in the morning he showed he is no mug with the bat as Durham’s remaining two wickets added 31.

Plunkett took a single in the first over but didn’t score for the next 25 minutes as Harrison hogged the strike, making 15 before driving at an away swinger from Trego and edging to third slip.

Plunkett then began to open up, smacking two successive balls from Alfonso Thomas to the cover boundary, one off the back foot and one off the front.

Both were high-class strokes and another in Thomas’ next over took Plunkett to 24 before an in-swinger took the inside edge on the way to the wicketkeeper.

Plunkett was the only Durham batsman who was not the architect of his own downfall and there would also be a few Somerset batsmen kicking themselves for not filling their boots as they might have done.

SCORECARD

Somerset v Durham
At Taunton.
Overnight: Durham 353-8 (W R Smith 100,
M J Di Venuto 96, B A Stokes 60).

Durham First Innings
L E Plunkett c Kieswetter b Thomas 24
J Harrison c Barrow b Trego 15
S J Harmison not out 2
Extras (b5 lb12 w1 nb2 pens 0) 20
Total (105.2 overs) 384
Fall: 1-158 2-232 3-265 4-284 5-295 6-326
7-350 8-350 9-366
Bowling: Trego 25-5-90-3. J Overton 14-
0-61-2. Thomas 19.2-3-68-2. C Overton
18-7-51-0. Dockrell 21-6-63-1. Suppiah 8-
2-34-0.

Somerset First Innings Close
A V Suppiah lbw b Harrison 4
A W Barrow c Mustard b S J Harmison 25
N R Compton c Thorp b Blackwell 64
J C Hildreth b Harrison 53
C Kieswetter lbw b Thorp 42
J C Buttler c Mustard b Blackwell 0
P D Trego not out 67
C Overton c Mustard b Harrison 50
A C Thomas c Stokes b Blackwell 18
G H Dockrell not out 3
Extras (b4 lb4 w1 nb22 pens 0) 31
Total 8 wkts (84 overs) 357
Fall: 1-6 2-66 3-138 4-199 5-203 6-209 7-
308 8-338
To Bat: J Overton.
Bowling: Harrison 18-2-88-3. Thorp 18-4-
58-1. Plunkett 12-0-69-0. S J Harmison 11-
2-60-1. Blackwell 25-7-74-3.