Durham v Surrey LV=County Championship (Day One)

SURREY’S lack of interest allowed Durham to defy the mysterious machinations of the Duckworth/Lewis method and win yesterday’s Royal London Cup tie by five wickets.

Paul Collingwood enhanced his position at the top of the tournament’s Most Valuable Player rankings by bringing his vast experience to bear in a match-winning performance.

He took two for 25 in ten overs then made an unbeaten 62 and shared a stand of 116 in 18 overs with Keaton Jennings before hitting the winning six to take Durham home with nine balls to spare.

Rain cut short the visitors’ innings on 189 for six after 44.5 overs and after a break of more than two hours Durham were required to score 198 in 37 overs.

They had reached a precarious 11 for two after three overs when a short break saw the target revised to 190 in 33, which seemed steep even to those with a rudimentary understanding of D/L.

Jennings, who made 70 off 67 balls and enhanced his growing reputation as a man for all formats, said: “D/L stuffed us a little bit after we had bowled well and we were wobbling when Colly came in.

“But he calmed the whole thing down and it was a pleasure to share that stand with him. I’m quite an intense character and I was psyching myself up towards the end to get the job done and hopefully get us into the quarter-finals.”

Surrey, with no chance of progress, had left out all their senior bowlers apart from Pakistani all-rounder Azhar Mahmood, who shuffles in off a few paces these days.

Durham won’t know for sure that they are in the last eight until the other teams have played their final games next Wednesday. This again puts them at a disadvantage after the ridiculous early schedule they were given. Somerset, for example, will go into their final match at the Oval knowing exactly what they have to do to overhaul Durham on net run rate.

Among the youngsters Surrey drafted in was 19-year-old Jack Winslade, who looked to be straining too hard for extra pace from his slight stature.

Chris Tremlett he is not and when he came on for the seventh over he was thrashed for four fours.

Phil Mustard hit three of them and although he then played on against another young seamer, George Edwards, there was little in the bowling to test Collingwood.

With 74 needed off ten, Jennings survived a sharp return chance to Edwards on 31 and there were also a few fumbles in the field, which allowed the Durham pair to get on top.

The target was 48 off six when Durham took the batting powerplay and Surrey had to recall Winslade. Jennings drove his second ball back over his head to reach 50 off 52 balls but skied a catch to fine leg with only five needed.

Like Nottinghamshire two days earlier, Surrey made a brisk start then stagnated.

Steven Davies and Tillakaratne Dilshan took 35 off the first six overs before John Hastings nipped one back to trim the Sri Lankan’s off bail with his third ball.

Well as Hastings bowled, it was the introduction of Collingwood in the 17th over which really stifled Surrey as he also struck with his third ball.

Allowing a gentle trundler to concede only 2.5 an over is not what one-day cricket is supposed to be about, but the Durham faithful appreciated the veteran’s changes of pace and length.

Vikram Solanki had driven Gareth Breese’s second ball for a straight six. But that was his only shot of note in scoring 14 off 37 balls before driving a low catch to Gordon Muchall at cover off Collingwood.

The Northern Echo:
Phil Mustard hits out

Solanki was to blame for Davies being starved of the strike. The left-hander began the match by hitting a good length ball from Chris Rushworth through point for four.

It was a stroke of the highest class and although some of his shots were a little streaky he continued to impress in reaching 50 off 54 balls.

That was in the 25th over, which meant he had faced little more than a third of the strike and when he decided that Jennings was a bowler he should get after he lofted a catch to mid-off.

At 108 for five Mahmmod found an impressive ally in 21-year-old Aneesh Kapil as they shared a stand of 69 in 14 overs.

A former England Under 19 all-rounder, Kapil is one of several players Surrey have pinched from Worcestershire, who to the delight of most observers continue to out-perform them.

Steep bounce from Paul Coughlin accounted for Mahmood, who edged to Mustard, but Kapil was still there on 43, made off 53 balls, when the rain arrived.

It threatened to return during the match-winning stand, but the thunderous clouds passed by. It was just as well because Durham were behind the D/L rate until four overs from the end.

SCOREBOARD

At Emirates Durham ICG.

Surrey
S M Davies c Breese b Jennings........56
T M Dilshan b Hastings......................... 17
V Solanki c Muchall b Collingwood ... 14
R J Burns st Mustard b Breese........... 10
G Wilson c Mustard b Collingwood .... 7
A Mahmood c Mustard b Couglin ......34
A Kapil not out ........................................43
D P Sibley not out .................................... 4
Extras (lb1 w3 pens 0) ......... 4
Total 6 wkts (44.5 overs). 189
Fall: 1-36 2-71 3-91 4-108 5-108 6-177
Bowling: Rushworth 6-1-34-0. Couglin
7-1-34-1. Hastings 7.5-0-28-1. Breese 10-
0-54-1. Collingwood 10-2-25-2. Jennings
3-1-9-1. Borthwick 1-0-4-0.

Durham
M D Stoneman c Sibley
b Azhar Mahmood.................................... 2
P Mustard b Edwards............................ 27
C MacLeod c Wilson b A Mahmood ... 1
S G Borthwick b Dilshan......................25
K Jennings c Edwards b Winsdale.....70
P D Collingwood not out ......................62
J W Hastings not out............................... 0
Extras (lb2 w2 pens 0) ......... 4
Total 5 wkts (31.3 overs) ..191
Fall: 1-2 2-11 3-43 4-69 5-185
Bowling: Azhar Mahmood 6-1-39-2.
Edwards 7-0-29-1. Winsdale 6.3-0-61-1.
Dilshan 6-0-34-1. van den Bergh 6-0-26-0.
Durham (2pts) beat Surrey (0pts) by 5 wkts (D/L Method)