Durham v Surrey (LV County Championship) : Day Three

JUST as Durham had achieved a position from which they could contemplate victory against Surrey today the rain returned to Riverside in mid-afternoon.

Durham were 76 for two in their second innings, 117 ahead with every chance of stretching that to 250 by the close. But no further play was possible, taking the total of overs lost in three days to 120.

The fightback which was sparked by the removal of Mark Ramprakash and Mark Butcher in the final half hour on Thursday, following their stand of 99, flared rapidly on the resumption.

The impressive Graham Onions rattled left-hander Usman Afzaal's leg stump with a superb yorker in the first over and Chris Jordan was run out in the second.

Following Butcher's dismissal to the last ball on Thursday, that meant wickets had fallen in three successive overs after Surrey had looked to be in command.

Another one could have gone in the next over as Onions looked mortified to have an lbw appeal against Matt Nicholson turned down by Barry Dudleston.

It would have given Onions a deserved five-wicket haul, and he looks certain to be selected for England Lions against New Zealand, which would mean him missing Durham's next championship game at Old Trafford, starting on May 7.

While keeping an eye on Onions and Phil Mustard, England selector James Whitaker seemed disappointed with the dismissal of Jordan for a threeball duck as the highly-rated 19- year-old Barbadian has ambitions to play for England.

He was sacrificed by Alistair Brown, who pushed to cover and set off before stopping. Jordan was committed and had no chance of beating Dale Benkenstein's direct hit at the non-striker's end.

Four overs later Neil Killeen had Nicholson lbw for four, and the same bowler drew Jimmy Ormond into a low edge to second slip, where Michael Di Venuto held the catch.

Mustard failed to hang on to an inside edge from Brown off Mark Davies, but the bowler had his reward when one of Saqlain Mushtaq's lusty swings resulted in an edge into the keeper's gloves.

Steve Harmison, sparingly used following a touch of gastroenteritis, took his only wicket when Brown was last out for 38, steering to third man, where Killeen tumbled forward to hold a good catch.

Surrey had lost their last eight wickets for 66 to be all out for 183, but their spirits were almost raised when Di Venuto appeared to be run out for the second time in the match.

Having departed for one in the first innings, he took a risky single to cover get off the mark and 12th man James Benning threw down the non-striker's stumps.

Surrey were convinced Di Venuto was out, but umpire Barrie Leadbeater gave him the benefit of the doubt. Not that it made a huge difference as the Tasmanian was lbw to Ormond for 14.

Mark Stoneman followed his 59 in the first innings by again playing well, particularly off his legs, but he fell for 23 in off-spinner Saqlain Mushtaq's second over.

The left-hander was stuck on the crease as he shaped to play to leg and the ball turned just enough to beat the bat.

Kyle Coetzer initially looked a little uncertain against some testing bowling from Ormond, but both he and Neil McKenzie quickly profited when Jordan replaced Pedro Collins.

The youngster bowled well in the first innings, but he failed to learn that banging it in short at Riverside in April is unlikely to have batsmen of McKenzie's calibre hopping round.

The South African pulled him for two fours in his first over and Coetzer also found the leg-side boundary twice two overs later.

They were going along merrily when the rain arrived, bringing the inevitable frustrations after such good progress had been made. Given a full day today, Durham might just have enough time to put Surrey under pressure

SCORECARD
Durham v Surrey
At Riverside.
Overnight: Durham 224 (D M Benkenstein 67,
M D Stoneman 59). Surrey123-4 (M A Butcher
65).
Surrey First Innings
U Afzaal b Onions 1
A D Brown c Killeen b S J Harmison 38
C J Jordan run out 0
M J Nicholson lbw b Killeen 4
J Ormond c Di Venuto b Killeen 6
Saqlain Mushtaq c Mustard b Davies 8
P T Collins not out 4
Extras (b4 lb3 w1 nb2 pens 0) 10
Total (66.1 overs) 183
Fall: 1-17 2-18 3-117 4-123 5-125 6-125 7-
134 8-160 9-177
Bowling: S J Harmison 11.1-4-27-1. Onions 20-
7-73-4. Killeen 19-4-40-3. Davies 13-3-34-1.
Wiseman 3-1-2-0.
Durham Second Innings Close
M D Stoneman lbw b Saqlain Mushtaq 23
M J Di Venuto lbw b Ormond 14
K J Coetzer not out 22
N D McKenzie not out 11
Extras (b4 nb2 pens 0) 6
Total 2 wkts (22.3 overs) 76
Fall: 1-22 2-53
To Bat: D M Benkenstein, P Mustard, P J Wiseman,
G Onions, M Davies, S J Harmison, N
Killeen.
Bonus Pts: Durham 4 Surrey 3
Bowling: Collins 9-2-26-0. Ormond 7-2-16-1.
Saqlain Mushtaq 4-0-11-1. Jordan 2.3-0-19-0.

9:49am Saturday 26th April 2008

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