Durham begin defence of trophy with defeat at Derby
CRICKET was plunged further
into the realms of farce last night
as Durham lost their Friends
Provident Trophy match at
Derby by one run.
Had the match started at a sensible
time there would have been
no problem, but Derbyshire's insistence
on using floodlights
forced play to be suspended twice
because of Durham's batsmen
being blinded by a low sun.
This proved very disruptive
and on the second resumption at
8.20, after 70 minutes had been
lost in total, they needed 118 off
24 overs with six wickets standing.
When they lost three wickets
with the total on 147 to Derbyshire's
latest Kolpak signing,
Charl Langeveldt, it looked all
over.
But in a valiant last-wicket
stand of 39 between Ben Harmison
and Neil Killeen they got the
target down to 11 off the last over.
When Killeen drove the penultimate
ball over extra cover for
four he wanted three off the last
ball, but he was narrowly run out
going for the second run.
A bizarre blend of natural and
artificial light had earlier cast a
dark shadow over Durham's
reply to 236 for six.
What was scheduled as a daynight
game had its starting time
brought forward an hour to 1.30
because of the threat of a low sun
halting play. And that is what
happened at 6.45 with Durham
looking likely winners after an
opening stand of 76.
They resumed after 15 minutes
with the sun behind a cloud and
the floodlights having no perceptible
impact, and lost Michael Di
Venuto and Neil McKenzie to successive
balls.
Then at 7.25 the sun reemerged
and play was suspended
for a further 55 minutes, at which
point storm clouds were gathering
and Durham knew they were
just behind the requirement
should rain force the match to be
decided by the Duckworth-Lewis
method.
Through sensible accumulation
the fifth-wicket pair of Paul
Collingwood and Dale Benkenstein
ensured that they stayed
ahead of the rate.
But as the dark clouds passed
by Collingwood skied an attempted
pull and wicketkeeper
Jamie Pipe ran back 20 yards to
hold the catch, then a swinging
yorker pinned Benkenstein lbw
and Gareth Breese edged to slip.
Steve Harmison contributed a
quick 14 in partnership with his
brother, who remained unbeaten
on 31.
When Derbyshire skipper
Rikki Clarke chose to bat he was
probably looking for a total of 230
on a greenish pitch which looked
as though it would offer some
help to the seamers.
But by the time left-handed
openers Chris Rogers and Steve
Stubbings had put on 132 the
hosts' aspirations would have
been much higher, and Durham
did well to peg Derbyshire back.
They took the wickets in pairs
just as the hosts were threatening
greater things. The openers
fell in the 28th and 29th overs,
then when third wicket pair
Clarke and John Sadler were accelerating
ominously after a
stand of 67 both were out with
the total on 205.
Finally Neil Killeen bowled
Graham Wagg and Jon Clare
with the first two balls of the 49th
over, off which he conceded only
one run. Killeen was left with an
over unbowled in finishing with
easily the most economical figures
of two for 21.
Steve Harmison had none for
47 in ten reasonably accurate
overs of no great menace, although
he was unfortunate when
Stubbings, on 17, inside edged
him for four.
The burly Derbyshire stalwart
has been considered too stodgy
for one-day purposes in the past,
but he provided an able foil for
his classy Australian partner.
A straight drive for four in
Harmison's second over confirmed
Rogers' ability and he
eased Collingwood's second ball
to the extra cover boundary
when the England one-day captain
replaced Killeen.
Rogers was only slightly quicker
than Stubbings to his half-century
- 72 balls compared with 76
- but began to step on the gas
when Graham Onions returned,
pulling him for two fours.
Rogers had made 72 when he
went down the track to Breese in
the 28th over and was bowled.
Then just when Stubbings ought
to have knuckled down he tried
to steer Onions to third man and
gave Phil Mustard a comfortable
catch.
That meant Sadler and Clarke
had to rebuild steadily and their
reluctance to cut loose allowed
Benkenstein to bring on his own
medium pace in the 38th over.
After two tight overs, Clarke
hit successive balls for four but
fell for 33 when he miscued
Collingwood to Benkenstein at
wide mid-on. Without addition
Sadler went for a risky shot and
was bowled by Breese for 37.
With Ian Hunter out of favour,
Derbyshire opened up with Tom
Lungley and Langeveldt, who
began with a wide and was driven
over long-off for six by Mustard.
The wicketkeeper departed for
45 when he chipped left-armer
Wagg to mid-on in the 15th over
and after struggling for four
overs Kyle Coetzer went for a
duck, edging Wagg to Pipe.
Collingwood just managed to
get enough bat on the next ball,
an in-swinging yorker, to help it
to fine leg for a single. But at the
end of the over came the first interruption
and on the resumption
Collingwood played out a
maiden from 6ft 4in Lancashire
reject Jon Clare.
Then Di Venuto tried to run
Wagg to third man and edged to
Pipe before McKenzie pushed forward
at the next ball and lost his
off stump.
Derbyshire v Durham At Derby
Derbyshire Innings
S D Stubbings c Mustard b Onions ... 52
C J Rogers b Breese .... 72
J L Sadler b Breese ..... 37
R Clarke c Benkenstein b Collingwood .. 33
D J Pipe not out ... 11
G G Wagg b Killeen .... 15
J L Clare b Killeen .... 0
F D Telo not out ... 4
Extras (b3 lb6 w1 nb2 pens 0) ... 12
Total 6 wkts Innings Complete (50 overs) ...236
Fall: 1-132 2-138 3-205 4-205 5-228 6-228
Did Not Bat: T Lungley, N D Doshi, C K
Langeveldt.
Bowling: Killeen 9-0-21-2. Onions 9-0-44-1. S J
Harmison 10-0-47-0. Collingwood 9-0-48-1.
Breese 10-0-50-2. Benkenstein 3-0-17-0.
Durham Innings
M J Di Venuto c Pipe b Wagg .. 41
P Mustard c Doshi b Wagg ... 45
K J Coetzer c Pipe b Wagg ... 0
P D Collingwood c Pipe b Langeveldt .. 25
N D McKenzie b Wagg ..... 0
D M Benkenstein lbw b Langeveldt .. 21
B W Harmison not out ... 31
G R Breese c Stubbings b Langeveldt .. 0
G Onions hit wicket b Clare .... 19
S J Harmison c Wagg b Clarke .. 14
N Killeen run out .... 16
Extras (b2 lb10 w11 pens 0) .. 23
Total (50 overs) ...235
Fall: 1-76 2-95 3-98 4-98 5-147 6-147 7-147
8-179 9-196
Bowling: Lungley 10-1-54-0. Langeveldt 9-0-44-
3. Clare 10-1-44-1. Wagg 10-0-35-4. Doshi 8-1-
32-0. Clarke 3-0-14-1.
Derbyshire beat Durham by 1 runs
9:24am Saturday 3rd May 2008
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