Borthwick's the boy as Stoneman plays his part (From The Northern Echo)

Borthwick's the boy as Stoneman plays his part

11:20am Friday 2nd September 2011 in Durham CCC Match Reports By Tim Wellock

AFTER the Geordie’s triumph on Wednesday, it was the turn of the Mackem at Hove yesterday as the revival of Durham’s title challenge gathered pace.

Blaydon’s Mark Stoneman again took a crucial hand following his first day century as his brilliant catch to get rid of Matt Prior helped Sunderland’s Scott Borthwick to his maiden five-wicket haul.

The leg-spinner took his fifth wicket just after 3pm, coinciding with the completion of leaders Lancashire’s tenwicket mauling at Worcester.

Borthwick finished with five for 80 and Graham Onions had four for 67 as Sussex were dismissed for 218, five short of the follow-on target.

But as they did twice in early season, Durham declined to send their hosts back in then suffered an early blow when Michael Di Venuto retired hurt on two after being struck on the elbow by a ball from Wayne Parnell.

Durham closed on 93 without loss, leading by 247, with Will Smith unbeaten on 54 and Stoneman on 30.

They had a few close shaves against the luckless Monty Panesar and Smith was dropped at backward point on 42. But otherwise they batted with great assurance and Durham will hope to demoralise Sussex by building a lead of more than 400.

That could, however, consign them to a tough fourth day in the field, which is what happened when they chose not to enforce the follow-on at the Rose Bowl in the first match of the season and Hampshire escaped with a draw.

That’s not what Durham want ahead of Sunday’s CB 40 semi-final at Taunton, which Somerset skipper Marcus Trescothick will miss with an ankle injury.

But the championship is the priority, and as well as wanting to give the bowlers a rest Durham probably felt Sussex would be unlikely to bat as poorly again under the cloudless Hove skies.

Following his England oneday debut in Ireland last week, when he bowled one over for 13 runs, Borthwick took five successive wickets while Onions topped and tailed the innings.

Both came under fire at times but skipper Phil Mustard was prepared to let them buy their wickets and their skill prevailed.

On a morning when he had the Midas touch, Mustard brought Borthwick on for the final over before lunch in the time-honoured fashion and was rewarded with a thirdball wicket as a googly had left-hander Luke Wells lbw for 27.

It was the fourth time that a wicket had fallen in the first over of a spell and when it was decided to keep Borthwick on Prior paid the price for his own arrogance.

He had already taken six runs off the second over after the break when he drove Borthwick over extra cover, only to be caught by the diving Stoneman just inside the boundary.

The England wicketkeeper, not required for the one-day internationals, made 22 off 14 balls.

Ben Brown also went for his shots, making 26 before he edged a drive at Borthwick to Mustard, and the left-handed Parnell drove Borthwick for six in making 27 before he fell lbw to the googly.

A good low catch by Smith at short leg accounted for another left-hander, James Anyon, to complete Borthwick’s haul.

Although he took only 19 wickets at 30.6 in the first ten games of the season, Durham have clearly missed him in the last four matches.

Three defeats and a draw saw them slip from runaway leaders to third place, but victory at Hove will keep them in the frame ahead of the final game at home to Worcestershire.

After holding a good catch at third slip to get rid of Ed Joyce off Mitch Claydon’s first ball, Borthwick reduced Sussex from 81 for three to 178 for eight.

But when Onions was recalled home skipper Michael Yardy twice cut him for four and also drove him to the cover boundary in the same over to complete his half-century.

After protecting Amjad Khan from the strike, Yardy was on 61 when he took a single off Onions two balls before tea.

Khan tried to pull the next ball and gloved a catch to Mustard to delay the interval with last man Monty Panesar coming in.

Yardy took five runs off the next over, but in making room to hit Onions to the short offside boundary he was bowled for 66.

Onions’ earlier victims were Chris Nash, who offered a return catch off the sixth ball of the innings, and Murray Goodwin, who fell to the first ball of the paceman’s second spell.

Coming down the hill this time, Onions found some extra bounce and the dangerous Goodwin fended to gully, where Callum Thorp dived forward to hold the catch.

At the start of the day Onions drove Panesar for a straight six, but departed for 19 when he edged a drive to first slip, where Yardy couldn’t hang on, but Prior snaffled the rebound.

SCORECARD

Sussex v Durham
At Hove.
Overnight: Durham 360-9 (M D
Stoneman 128, D M Benkenstein 64).

Durham First Innings
C D Thorp not out 37
G Onions c Prior b Khan 19
Extras (b6 lb9 nb13 pens 0) 28
Total (99.1 overs) 372
Fall: 1-15 2-72 3-150 4-249 5-249 6-
285 7-285 8-327 9-333
Bonus Pts: Sussex 4 Durham 7
Bowling: Parnell 24-2-117-3. Anyon 22-3-111-3.
Khan 13.1-0-44-2. Panesar 33-10-75-0.
Nash 7-4-10-1.

Sussex First Innings
E C Joyce c Borthwick b Claydon 24
C D Nash c & b Onions 4
L W Wells lbw b Borthwick 27
M W Goodwin c Thorp b Onions 8
M J Prior c Stoneman b Borthwick 22
M H Yardy b Onions 66
B C Brown c Mustard b Borthwick 26
W D Parnell lbw b Borthwick 27
J E Anyon c W R Smith b Borthwick 2
A Khan c Mustard b Onions 5
M S Panesar not out 0
Extras (b4 w1 nb2 pens 0) 7
Total (59.3 overs) 218
Fall: 1-7 2-43 3-67 4-81 5-90 6-132 7-
174 8-178 9-213
Bonus Pts: Sussex 4 Durham 7
Bowling: Onions 16.3-3-67-4. Thorp 8-0-24-0. Claydon
10-4-31-1. Borthwick 19-4-80-5.
Blackwell 6-1-12-0.

Durham Second Innings Close
W R Smith not out 54
M J Di Venuto retd hurt 2
M D Stoneman not out 30
Extras (lb5 nb2 pens 0) 7
Total 0 wkts (30 overs) 93
To Bat: P D Collingwood, D M Benkenstein,
I D Blackwell, P Mustard, S G
Borthwick, M E Claydon, G Onions, C D
Thorp.
Bonus Pts: Sussex 4 Durham 7
Bowling: Parnell 7-2-21-0. Anyon 6-0-26-0. Khan 8-
1-30-0. Panesar 8-2-11-0. Nash 1-1-0-0.