Rocky puts Durham in control (From The Northern Echo)

Rocky puts Durham in control

8:00am Thursday 1st September 2011 in Durham CCC Match Reports By Tim Wellock

FOUR years after his maiden championship century at home to Sussex, Mark Stoneman yesterday compiled an invaluable second, away to the same opponents.

Scoring in bursts through glorious strokes against the seamers and blocking for dear life against Monty Panesar, he made 128 out of 360 for nine on the first day at Hove.

Failing to collect the last batting point will be a disappointment for Durham after subsiding from 249 for three.

But their seamers will hope to exploit the steep bounce in the pitch and keep them in the title race after leaders Lancashire endured a difficult day at Worcester.

For the man known as "Rocky" by his team-mates it has been a bit of bumpy road inbetween Stoneman's two hundreds and he has yet to play a full season for Durham.

The stroke-making talent against quicker bowlers has never been in question, but this was a big day in his education as he knuckled down against the left-arm spin of Panesar while admiring the mastery of Dale Benkenstein from the other end.

Always considered an opener, 24-year-old Stoneman has returned to the side as a No 3 and top scored in Durham's second innings at Trent Bridge last week with 74.

Benkenstein apart, the rest of the batsmen were again below par. The slide was sparked by Benkenstein being run out after cruising to 64. In going for the single which would have brought up the century stand he hesitated after Stoneman played the ball to backward point.

Although it was the senior man's call, he seemed to respond to Stoneman setting off and the hesitation proved fatal.

Sussex had turned to the occasional off spin of Chris Nash, who thought he had Stoneman lbw on 77 with his first ball.

But he did get a wicket when Ian Blackwell tried to sweep the second ball he faced and top-edged a catch to backward square leg.

Scott Borthwick also departed for a duck, clipping a catch which he obviously felt hadn't carried to square leg. He looked justified in querying it, but after consultation the umpires took Luke Wells' word that it was a clean catch.

Despite lengthy periods of strokelessness, Stoneman was able to pick up runs in clusters. He added only 14 in 100 minutes after reaching 50 straight after lunch, but then took 11 off an over from Amjad Khan.

He still scored only 28 in the afternoon and went along at a similar tempo until Wayne Parnell took the new ball.

On 87, Stoneman cut the South African left-armer for four then glanced him to the fine leg boundary and a thickish edge for four in the same over took him to 99.

A clip off his toes behind square gave Stoneman his 15th four, to go with a six over mid-wicket off Panesar, and took him to his century off 229 balls.

Parnell finally had him caught at second slip from a ball which bounced steeply six overs from the close, and something similar then accounted for Mitch Claydon.

But despite failing to get in line against the short-pitched stuff, Callum Thorp cut and carved his way to 33 not out and a glorious cover drive by Graham Onions brought up the fourth batting point.

In the ten games Stoneman played last year he made four half-centuries but had a top score of 78, his best since his 101 in the penultimate game of 2007.

After doing the bulk of the scoring yesterday morning in reaching 49, he completed his third half-century in four championship matches this season off 78 balls by turning James Anyon behind square leg in the first over after lunch.

Conscious of the need to convert 50s into 100s, he had to concentrate on survival against Panesar. He is a little past the apprentice stage, but having a craftsman at the other end in Benkenstein obviously helped him.

After seeing the left-hander fail to connect with several attempted cuts off Panesar the senior man appeared to suggest he should play with a straighter bat through cover.

Paul Collingwood also helped as he scored only two off the first 33 balls he faced then moved into overdrive when Stoneman was first becalmed.

On 26 Collingwood pulled Parnell for six and four, but the South African had his revenge when Collingwood played back defensively and edged to first slip, where Michael Yardy held a catch.

After losing his 100 per cent record at Trent Bridge last week, Phil Mustard won the toss for the 11th time out of 12 and chose to bat with just a hint of blue sky around.

The early overs were testing against Parnell and Michael Di Venuto survived a few scary moments. But after making 14 he got out at the other end, edging a forcing back-foot shot off James Anyon to Ben Brown, who retained the gloves despite the presence of Matt Prior in the Sussex side.

Will Smith made only four in the first 55 minutes then hit three fours in an over off Anyon. But on 25 he pushed forward to Amjad Khan and edged to Prior at second slip.

Four years ago on this ground Smith made a century which turned his career around. Stoneman will hope his does the same.

SCORECARD

Sussex v Durham
At Hove. Durham Won Toss

Durham First Innings Close
M J Di Venuto c B C Brown b Anyon 14
W R Smith c Prior b Khan 24
M D Stoneman c Prior b Parnell1 28
P D Collingwood c Yardy b Parnell 38
D M Benkenstein run out 64
I D Blackwell c Anyon b Nash 0
P Mustard c B C Brown b Anyon 18
S G Borthwick c Wells b Anyon 0
C D Thorp not out 33
M E Claydon c Joyce b Parnell 2
G Onions not out 11
Extras (b6 lb9 nb13 pens 0) 28
Total 9 wkts (96 overs) 360
Fall: 1-15 2-72 3-150 4-249 5-249 6-
285 7-285 8-327 9-333
Bowling: Parnell 24-2-117-3. Anyon 22-
3-111-3. Khan 12-0-43-1. Panesar 31-10-
64-0. Nash 7-4-10-1.