Last ball agony for Durham after suffering another group defeat
DURHAM need to complete a
Friends Provident double over
Yorkshire at Headingley today,
otherwise their defence of the
trophy will lie in ruins.
Following the controversial
one-run defeat at Derby on Friday
night, conditions again conspired
against Durham at Old
Trafford yesterday and they lost
by five wickets off the last ball.
Steven Croft needed to hit it for
six and obliged by easily clearing
the rope over extra cover off Graham
Onions.
Dale Benkenstein again lost
the toss in a match reduced to 23
overs a side, and with Paul
Collingwood falling first ball and
Phil Mustard for five Durham
looked like struggling to muster
a competitive total.
That they reached 151 for seven
owed everything to Benkenstein
contributing 40 to a stand of 61 in
eight overs with Michael Di
Venuto.
The Tasmanian went on to
make 66, his highest one-day
score for Durham, before having
his stumps rattled in the 22nd
over by Andrew Flintoff.
While bowling well, Flintoff
has been short of runs and
Durham were still in the game
when he arrived at the crease
with Lancashire needing 41 off
5.3 overs.
It was down to 24 off three
when Collingwood returned and
off the third ball Flintoff holed
out at deep mid-wicket.
Lancashire needed 12 off the
last over with Mohammad
Yousuf on strike. Signed to replace
Brad Hodge for five weeks
after the Australian was allowed
to take up an offer from the Indian
Premier League, the Pakistani
was on 32 but skied the first ball
to mid-off, where Benkenstein
held the catch.
Onions conceded only three
singles off the next three balls,
but three to fine leg off the penultimate
delivery allowed Croft his
moment of glory.
Durham's former team-mate
Ottis Gibson was present in his
role as England bowling coach,
but he would had to concede that
Flintoff was in a class of his own.
In taking two for 13 in five fast
and accurate overs, he throttled
the middle of the Durham innings
and had Neil McKenzie
caught behind just as the sun
came out after the start had been
delayed until 4.30 by rain.
The Lancashire side was not as
strong as it might have been as
they were without Glen Chapple,
Dominic Cork and Sajid Mahmood.
They also chose not to include
newly-arrived Kolpak signing
Francois du Plessis, a
hard-hitting batsman who bowls
leg breaks and will be with them
for the rest of the season.
In the absence of three leading
seamers, Kyle Hogg opened up
with James Anderson and struck
with his third ball.
Mustard made room to cut the
first for four, survived an lbw appeal
off the next then went for an
extravagant hoist over cover,
only to slice a catch to third man.
Given the brevity of the game,
and his modest form so far,
Durham showed great faith in
Kyle Coetzer by again sending
him in at No 3.
He almost played on before he
was off the mark, but was called
through for the quick single by
Di Venuto.
After playing and missing at
Anderson, Coetzer flat-batted
him over cover for four but then
lifted a catch to Yousuf at midon.
The batsmen crossed and off
the first ball of the next over
Collingwood shaped to turn
Hogg to mid-wicket and edged to
second slip, where home captain
Stuart Law took a one-handed
catch to his right.
With Flintoff replacing Anderson
only 15 runs came off the
next four overs before McKenzie
slogged Hogg from outside off
stump wide of mid-on for four.
When the South African fell for
12 Durham were 60 for four and
they had a let-off when Di Venuto,
on 33, was missed by Mal Loye
at short fine leg off medium
pacer Steven Croft.
Di Venuto lifted the next ball
over long-off for six, then
Benkenstein reverse-swept legspinner
Simon Marshall's first
ball to fine leg for four.
It almost seemed as though
Lancashire wanted to give
Durham a chance as they also
brought on the gentle medium
pace of 21-year-old all-rounder
Steven Mullaney.
Benkenstein drove him over
long-on for six then took a heavy
toll of Marshall's fourth over before
depositing a full toss from
Croft into the crowd at mid-wicket.
A swirling catch off the next
ball was held by Flintoff on the
square leg boundary, then Di
Venuto turned Anderson for
three fours behind square in the
21st over.
Anderson's five overs cost 40
runs, and despite Ben Harmison
facing 11 balls for six runs
Durham took 58 off the last six
overs.
Neil Killeen had a good shout
for lbw turned down as he
opened up with a maiden to Loye,
but Lancashire had raced to 35 in
the fifth over when Gareth Cross
sliced Steve Harmison to Collingwood
at gully.
Harmison was then the catcher
when Law tried to paddle
Gareth Breese's second ball
square on the leg side and top
edged it to short fine leg.
When Lancashire needed 79 off
ten overs Benkenstein tried to
turn the screw by bringing back
Killeen, but Loye reverse swept
him for four as 11 came off the
over.
Harmison returned and Loye
top-edged a pull straight over
Mustard for four then drove and
pulled two more boundaries before
he fell for 58 when Mustard
leapt to his right to hold a good
catch.
With the light fading, Durham
were marginal favourites at that
point but for the second successive
match the last ball went
against them.
Lancashire v Durham At Old Trafford
Durham
M J Di Venuto b Flintoff ... 66
P Mustard c Cross b Hogg .. 6
K J Coetzer c M Yousuf b Anderson ... 6
P D Collingwood c Law b Hogg .. 0
N D McKenzie c Sutton b Flintoff .. 12
D M Benkenstein c Flintoff b Croft ... 40
B W Harmison c & b Anderson ... 6
G R Breese not out ... 6
Extras (b2 lb4 w3 pens 0) ... 9
Total 7 wkts Innings Complete (23
overs) ....151
Fall: 1-13 2-30 3-30 4-60 5-121 6-141 7-151
Did Not Bat: G Onions, S J Harmison, N Killeen.
Anderson 5-0-40-2. Hogg 5-0-24-2. Flintoff 5-0-
13-2. Croft 3-0-26-1. Marshall 3-0-24-0. Mullaney
2-0-18-0.
Lancashire
M B Loye c Mustard b S J Harmison ... 58
G D Cross c Collingwood b S J Harmison 19
S G Law c S J Harmison b Breese ... 9
M Yousuf c Benkenstein b Onions .. 32
A Flintoff c McKenzie b Collingwood .. 10
S J Croft not out .... 10
S J Mullaney not out ... 4
Extras (lb5 w5 pens 0) .. 10
Total 5 wkts (23 overs) ...152
Fall: 1-35 2-61 3-111 4-130 5-140
Did Not Bat: L D Sutton, K W Hogg, J M Anderson,
S J Marshall.
Bowling: Killeen 5-1-32-0. Onions 4-0-34-1. S J
Harmison 5-0-33-2. Collingwood 4-0-22-1.
Breese 5-0-26-1.
Lancashire beat Durham by 5 wkts
P W L D N Pts RR
Lancashire ................ 3 2 0 0 1 5 3.42
Derbyshire ................ 4 2 1 0 1 5 0.11
Yorkshire .................. 2 1 1 0 0 2 0.19
Durham .................... 3 1 2 0 0 2 0.02
Scotland.................... 2 0 2 0 0 0 -2.31
9:19am Monday 5th May 2008
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