Travelling Durham stopped in their tracks (From The Northern Echo)

Travelling Durham stopped in their tracks

10:00am Monday 5th September 2011 in Durham CCC Match Reports By Tim Wellock

A WEEK on the road took its toll on Durham yesterday as they let down their one-day captain Dale Benkenstein with a below par display in the CB 40 semi-final defeat at Taunton.

The Lord's dream vanished as they were all out for 219, 107 fewer than they scored in the final group game at the Oval six days earlier.

With the injured Marcus Trescothick being replaced at the top of the Somerset order by Durham University's Richard Jones, Durham might have felt they could defend their total.

But after playing out a maiden from Mitch Claydon, Jones joined Arul Suppiah in putting some dreadful bowling to the sword. The next eight overs produced 76 runs.

Callum Thorp persuaded Jones to play on for 33, but he had done better than most expected in setting the platform for Somerset to cruise towards their target. They were 165 for three after 27 overs when rain ended play and were declared the winners by 39 under the Duckworth/Lewis method.

Jones was one of five players in the depleted home side aged 19 or 20 and with all the experience in the Durham line-up they started the game as favourites.

But after the big defeat in the Friends Life t20 quarter-final at the Rose Bowl it was the second time this season they have been stuffed by crazy scheduling.

Having to come straight from a four-day match in Hove is no way to prepare for what should have been a showpiece occasion. They now have to kick their heels for a week before the final game of the season.

The performance and the result were a travesty for Benkenstein, who had set out his stall to win a one-day trophy this year but yet again found himself having to keep the ship afloat by making 82 of 76 balls.

Amazingly, it could have been worse. Two dropped catches let Durham off the hook when they were 44 for four, otherwise they would have struggled to make 150.

After choosing to bat on a sunny afternoon which slowly deteriorated they threw early wickets away before Benkenstein was dropped at slip on nought and Ian Blackwell on one.

Blackwell's escape came when a fierce drive flew straight back to Irish left-arm spinner George Dockrell, but it went through his hands and struck him a painful blow in the nether region.

The pair added 85 before more carelessness left Scott Borthwick to repair the damage with his captain.

The only blameless member of Durham's top four was Gordon Muchall, who has played little cricket recently and fell lbw second ball to Steve Kirby.

Muchall was recalled because of Michael Di Venuto's injury and was sent in at No 3 after Mark Stoneman ran himself out in the third over, attempting a suicidal single to mid-off.

Paul Collingwood concentrated on survival against Kirby but pulled a four when 19-year-old all-rounder Craig Meschede replaced the ex-Yorkshire bowler at 32 for two after nine overs.

Seven came off the over and all seemed well, but then two wickets fell on 44. Phil Mustard departed for 24 when he pulled a Peter Trego long hop down deep mid-wicket's throat then two balls later Collingwood chipped a low catch to short mid-wicket. He had made 13 off 26 balls.

Durham had only 51 on the board after 14 overs then Blackwell bludgeoned Trego for two fours followed by a six over long-on off 19-year-old Dockrell.

Five overs produced 45 runs, forcing Somerset's acting captain Alfonso Thomas to recall himself.

He and Murali Kartik put the brake on but it seemed to have been released when Blackwell drove the spinner down the ground for his fifth four. He then tried to clear the long mid-wicket boundary and skied it to Meschede to fall for 41, made off 40 balls.

The first ball Gareth Breese faced was a wide from Meschede, but he surrendered to the next in identical fashion to Collingwood.

Borthwick joined Benkenstein on 130 for six in the 26th over and as they couldn't afford to take risks they did well to add 71 in 11 overs.

Coming back for his final two overs, Trego bowled well until his final ball, a slow full toss off which Borthwick hit his only boundary, a six over long-on.

The stand ended when the whippet-like Borthwick called Benkenstein back for a second run to long-off in the 37th over.

Despite his despairing dive into the crease, the captain didn't have to wait for the TV verdict to know he was out. His frustration was evident as he probably knew Durham needed 40 runs off those last four overs to be competitive.

Skilfully led by Thomas, Somerset bowled well at the death and the last four wickets went down for 18 runs. Making room to play through the off side, Borthwick missed a leg stump full toss from Thomas, then Kirby returned to bowl Claydon and Graham Onions. Durham were all out with seven balls unused.

Suppiah raced to a 44-ball half-century before he was stumped by Mustard off Breese, and the wicketkeeper was also awarded a catch off the off-spinner, although the TV replay suggested the ball had run up James Hildreth's pad.

Trego was on 40 when the rain arrived with Jos Buttler on ten and with 13 overs to score 55 runs it would have required a remarkable transformation in Durham's display to halt them.

SCOREBOARD

Somerset v Durham
At Taunton

Durham Innings (Rain stopped play)
P Mustard c Meschede b Trego 24
M D Stoneman run out 3
G J Muchall lbw b Kirby 0
P D Collingwood c Kartik b Trego 13
D M Benkenstein run out 82
I D Blackwell c Meschede b Kartik 41
G R Breese c Hildreth b Meschede 0
S G Borthwick b Thomas 32
C D Thorp not out 5
M E Claydon b Kirby 2
G Onions b Kirby 4
Extras (lb3 w8 nb2 pens 0) 13
Total (38.5 overs) 219
Fall: 1-11 2-15 3-44 4-44 5-129 6-130 7-
201 8-210 9-215
Bowling: Thomas 7-0-26-1. Kirby 5.5-1-31-3. Trego
8-0-47-2. Meschede 7-0-36-1. Dockrell 3-
0-19-0. Kartik 8-0-57-1.

Somerset Innings (Rain stopped play)
C R Jones b Thorp 33
A V Suppiah st Mustard b Breese 57
P D Trego not out 40
J C Hildreth c Mustard b Breese 16
J C Buttler not out 10
Extras (lb3 w6 pens 0) 9
Total 3 wkts (27 overs) 165
Fall: 1-78 2-125 3-149
Did not bat: C A J Meschede, L Gregory, M
Kartik, A C Thomas, S P Kirby, G H Dockrell.
Bowling: Claydon 3-1-22-0, Onions 3-0-33-0, Blackwell
2-0-17-0, Thorp 5-0-27-1, Collingwood
2-0-10-0, Borthwick 6-0-26-0. Breese 6-0-
27-2.
Somerset beat Durham by 39 runs (D/L)