Yorkshire v Durham LV=County Championship (Day Three)

DURHAM could face a trial by spin today in their attempt to avoid a heavy defeat by Yorkshire at Headingley.

More rain following Tuesday afternoon’s downpour would help after their struggles in yesterday’s sunshine left them still 136 behind with nine wickets standing after following on.

They had 26 overs to survive in the second innings and had reached 39 without loss after 18 when Yorkshire turned to the occasional off spin of Adam Lyth.

Were he a regular bowler, his action might come under scrutiny and it certainly helped him to gain some turn.

His third ball skidded through to bowl Keaton Jennings for 16 and he also troubled Mark Stoneman and Scott Borthwick. Stoneman will resume today on 35 out of a total of 59 for one.

Skipper Paul Collingwood was left stranded on 64 as Durham were dismissed for 231, while Jennings made 56 and the rest floundered against disciplined bowling, which included an encouraging performance from Adil Rashid.

In taking four for 73 he turned his googly quite sharply on the dry surface and Yorkshire may yet have cause to regret not picking a recognised second spinner, with Jack Brooks proving the weak link in an otherwise highly impressive attack. They could hardly leave Brooks out, however, given his form so far this season.

Ryan Sidebottom bowled superbly to take two for 18 in 14.2 overs, which would have been even better had Yorkshire- born umpires Richard Illingworth and Richard Kettleborough not turned down several impassioned lbw appeals.

Two who were given out, Gordon Muchall and last man Chris Rushworth, were unlucky as both deliveries looked to have a chance of missing leg stump, while several others looked plumb.

After losing only one wicket in the day’s first 100 minutes, Durham were undermined by the loss of three wickets in five overs just before lunch, slipping from 109 for two to 119 for five.

Sidebottom began the day with a spell of one for seven in six overs, having Borthwick caught behind for ten with the perfect delivery to a left-hander.

While Michael Richardson took 15 balls to get off the mark, Jennings kept the score moving by driving Brooks to the off-side boundary twice in an over.

When Rashid came on for the 32nd over Jennings paddled him to fine leg for four and he greeted Bresnan’s introduction with a straight drive for four on his way to a 122-ball half-century.

All looked well when Richardson cover drove two fours in Rashid’s third over, but the slide started when Jennings pushed forward and edged Steve Patterson to second slip, where Lyth held a good catch low to his right.

In the next over Muchall drove Bresnan imperiously to the cover boundary then played back to the next ball when he should have been forward. It skidded on to him and he was adjudged lbw.

Rashid was brought back for the last over before lunch and Richardson, on 23, took a step forward to the final ball and chipped a return catch.

The leg-spinner then took all three wickets to fall in the afternoon session. Phil Mustard survived a sharp chance to Alex Lees at third slip off Brooks on three and never looked secure in contributing 17 to a stand of 51 with Collingwood.

He finally turned a catch tamely into the hands of Jack Leaning at short leg, then John Hastings looked all at sea against Rashid.

A couple of wafts earned him three runs before he pushed forward to a ball which bounced more than he expected and lobbed off the shoulder of the bat to slip.

Paul Coughlin was equally uncertain and after surviving a confident lbw appeal when shouldering arms to a googly there was an air of desperation about the six he hit over long-on to get off the mark.

Trying something similar, he holed out at deep mid-on for 11.

Collingwood would have been run out on ten and 44 had the shies hit the stumps when he risked singles to mid-on. Otherwise he was at his obdurate best and reached 50 off 89 balls when he ran Brooks to third man for his fifth four.

Mark Wood hit Rashid’s first two long hops for four just before tea but fell lbw when Patterson took the new ball afterwards.

Rashid was even given one over with the new ball before Sidebottom returned and rapped Rushworth on the pads to finally earn his lbw reward.

The left-armer looked a little jaded in the second innings, but Durham can expect to see a lot more of Rashid today and Yorkshire will doubtless turn again to the secret weapon of Lyth.

SCOREBOARD

At Headingley Carnegie.

Overnight: Yorkshire 426 (A Lyth 143, A Z
Lees 108; M A Wood 5-87).Durham 50-1.

Durham First Innings
K K Jennings c Lyth b Patterson .........56
S G Borthwick c Bairstow b Sidebottom 10
M J Richardson c & b A U Rashid ......23
G J Muchall lbw b Bresnan .................... 5
P D Collingwood not out ......................64
P Mustard c Leaning b A U Rashid.... 17
J W Hastings c Lyth b A U Rashid........ 3
P Couglin c Brooks b A U Rashid...... 11
M A Wood lbw b Patterson.................. 13
C Rushworth lbw b Sidebottom............ 2
Extras (b1 lb3 nb2 pens 0).. 6
Total (88.2 overs).............. 231
Fall: 1-39 2-60 3-109 4-116 5-119 6-170
7-174 8-194 9-228
Sidebottom 14.2-6-18-2. Brooks 15-2-62-0.
Patterson 20-8-27-2. Bresnan 19-3-47-2. A
U Rashid 20-2-73-4.

Durham Second Innings Close
M D Stoneman not out..........................35
K K Jennings b Lyth ............................... 16
S G Borthwick not out ............................ 6
Extras (b2 pens 0) ................. 2
Total 1 wkt (26 overs) .........59
Fall: 1-39
To Bat: M J Richardson, P D Collingwood,
G J Muchall, P Mustard, J W Hastings, M A
Wood, P Couglin, C Rushworth.
Bowling: Sidebottom 5-1-20-0. Patterson
6-3-12-0. Brooks 4-0-12-0. Bresnan 5-4-2-0.
A U Rashid 2-0-5-0. Lyth 4-0-6-1.