Surrey v Durham (County Championship) : Day Two

IN the absence of runs from the big guns, Will Smith superbly shouldered the responsibility of ensuring Durham gained the first innings lead they needed at gloomy Guildford yesterday.

Helped by Phil Mustard in an unbroken sixth-wicket stand of 131, Smith struck the perfect blend of vigilance and strokeplay in compiling his second century of the season.

He was on 126 and Mustard had made 62 out of Durham’s 259 for five, a lead of 39, when bad light ended play just after 5.30.

It was no worse then than it had been for most of the afternoon, but while Surrey had sportingly bowled their spinners in the worst of the conditions they were not going to do it again shortly after taking the new ball.

Just as opener Scott Newman scored 113 out of 220 for Surrey, at one stage Smith had made 75 out of 141 without scoring particularly quickly.

He showed excellent judgement in concentrating on survival while never missing an opportunity to put away the short ball, or anything on his legs.

Smith made a few 30s and 40s but failed to reach 50 in 19 championship innings last year, so after his century at Hove this season he has learnt how to convert good starts.

There were a couple of thick edges to the vacant third man area in the truncated morning session, but most of the eight fours in his 89-ball half-century were off the middle.

On 75 he lost momentum as he advanced in singles while Mustard began to dominate, but a couple of long hops from leg-spinner Chris Schofield were firmly pulled to the mid-wicket boundary.

Smith reached 90 with a risky single into the covers, which might have seen Mustard run out for 29 with a better throw from Chris Jordan.

But there were no further jitters and a back-foot punch through extra cover off Schofield gave a jubilant Smith the two runs which took him to 100 off 215 balls.

There were only five fours in his very patient second 50, but it was exactly what the doctor ordered for Durham, who were still 92 behind on 128 for five when Mustard went in.

He initially lived a little streakily with miscued sweeps twice just evading fielders as he tried to make sure the spinners didn’t get on top.

It was to Jon Batty’s credit that he kept an all-spin attack going, but Murtaza Hussain proved a very useful off-spinner, while Schofield’s usual mixed bag saw him beat the bat a couple of times.

Continuing his more res t r a i n e d approach in the championship, M u s - tard was on 35 at tea with the stand worth 67 and the deficit of 15 was s w i f t l y wiped out a f t e r - wards.

Surr e y helped by trying a couple of overs of medium pace from Stewart Walters before taking the new ball on 224 for five.

Other than one edge by Mustard just wide of second slip, it had no impact and the posttea clatter of wickets on the first day remained a mystery.

Mustard pulled Jimmy Ormond fiercely to mid-wicket for his sixth four to reach 50 off 110 balls and swiftly repeated the shot.

Showers in the morning dampened some of the enthusiasm of the festival crowd, which included Sir Geoff Hurst, although the chief reason for his presence was to speak to a corporate hospitality gathering.

The rain probably didn’t help Dale Benkenstein’s concentration as he was out just when the umpires must have been thinking about taking the players off for the second time.

The first break came after only 11 minutes, during which Durham had added 14 runs, which included an imperious cover drive for four by Benkenstein, who simply lent on a ball from Jade Dernbach and sent it speeding to the boundary.

No sooner had play resumed at 12.20 than light rain began to fall again, but Benkenstein seemed happy enough to stay on as he and Smith brought up their 50 stand in 12 overs.

This was good progress after coming together at 21 for three, but on 25 the captain shaped to drive Ormond and edged to wicketkeeper Batty.

That was the rejuvenated Ormond’s third wicket, and he also had a hand in the next dismissal as he held a slip catch off Hussain to see off Ben Harmison.

The previous day’s bowling hero had laboured for 19 overs to contribute seven to a stand of 55, adding only one run in 40 minutes after lunch before he pushed forward to a ball which found the edge.

The game was delicately poised at that point, but moving down one place to seven appears to have helped Mustard and, as in his match-winning stand with Liam Plunkett at Headingley, he has helped to transform the game.

SCORECARD
Surrey v Durham
At Guildford.
Overnight: Surrey 220 (S A Newman
113; B W Harmison 4-27). Durham 44-3.
Durham First Innings Close
W R Smith not out . 126
D Benkenstein c Batty b Ormond . 25
B Harmison c Ormond b Hussain 9
P Mustard not out . 62
Extras (b4 lb8 w1 nb4 pens 0)
17
Total 5 wkts (91 overs) 259
Fall: 1-15 2-15 3-21 4-73 5-128
To Bat: P J Wiseman, L E Plunkett, C D
Thorp, S J Harmison.
Bonus Pts: Surrey 1 Durham 3
Bowling: Dernbach 21-4-53-1. Ormond
22-6-73-3. Hussain 23-7-50-1. Jordan
10-3-23-0. Schofield 10-1-31-0. Afzaal
2-0-3-0. Walters 3-0-14-0.