Mustard and Plunkett in record-braking form

11:14am Tuesday 1st July 2008

Yorkshire v Durham (Twenty20 Cup)

PERHAPS Twenty20 does serve a purpose other than attracting a new audience to cricket. Evidence that it can help to clear a struggling batsman's mind came with Phil Mustard's highest championship score for two years yesterday.

The Durham wicketkeeper made 92 and transformed the game at Headingley in a stand of 143 with Liam Plunkett, nine more than the county's previous first-class record for the eighth wicket.

Plunkett remained unbeaten on 68, six short of his best championship score, as Durham reached 347 to lead by 163 runs.

An innings win looked possible when Callum Thorp reduced Yorkshire to 13 for two but they closed on 88 for two in their second innings, with Michael Vaughan showing his class with an unbeaten 48 and Adam Lyth again playing well on 32.

Tim Bresnan continued his excellent season by taking five for 94, but no other Yorkshire bowler had more than one wicket until Matthew Hoggard had last man Steve Harmison caught at mid-off. It must have seemed a long time to Hoggard since he pinned Michael Di Venuto lbw with the second ball of the innings.

Durham's eighth-wicket record had stood since 1994, when David Graveney and Anderson Cummins' effort at Edgbaston was quickly overshadowed by a certain B Lara scoring 501 not out.

Mustard also features in Durham's sixth wicket record of 249, set with Gordon Muchall in the first match of the 2006 season at Canterbury.

The wicketkeeper has made only one championship century since, but seemed to be cruising to another until he drove wide of off stump at Bresnan and edged to Gerard Brophy.

Since scoring 53 in the first match of the season, Mustard had gone championship eight innings without reaching 20, and his only Friends Provident half-century came against Scotland.

His taste of one-day international action had given him the desire to prove that he could build longer innings, but it took the return of Twenty20 to free him of the mental restraints which have been hampering him.

A move one place down the order to No 7 may also have helped as it was from there that he scored his two centuries in 2006, while a change of luck never does any harm.

Mustard began streakily with a four sliced wide of cover's right hand, and on five he inside-edged Darren Gough for four perilously close to off stump.

But after losing Albie Morkel for 37 and Paul Wiseman for eight to leave Durham on 161 for seven, still 23 behind, Mustard would have taken heart from seeing Plunkett hook Hoggard for six early in his innings.

Shortly afterwards the wicketkeeper pulled Bresnan for four to level the scores and as the lead grew Yorkshire began to look a little ragged.

Mustard was well set when Gough belatedly brought on Adil Rashid and the left-hander swept him for three fours in two overs.

Gough then turned to Anthony McGrath, but he conceded 32 runs in five overs and Mustard drove him over long-on for his only six just before reaching 50 off 69 balls.

His remaining 42 runs came off 41 balls with the only slight blemish coming on 58, when he drove Steve Patterson in the air just out of Gough's reach at mid-off.

As the pitch eased in the afternoon sunshine, Yorkshire began to look devoid of inspiration, with Vaughan spending much of his time on the boundary.

The total was on 273 when the new ball was taken after 80 overs, and on 43 Plunkett hooked Bresnan for his second six. This was followed by the umpteenth complaint of the match about the ball, which was promptly changed.

Plunkett also hit four fours in his well-constructed 107-ball half-century, and the depth he adds to the batting compensates for Wiseman's lack of runs.

When he played on behind his legs to Bresnan's third ball after lunch the game remained evenly balanced, with the pitch still favouring the seamers and uneven bounce contributing to the downfall of three batsmen.

Ben Harmison did an excellent job on his promotion to open, surviving until the 34th over before losing patience during a short-pitched barrage from Bresnan.

Dale Benkenstein, cutting strongly and looking as secure as ever, had just gone past Harmison when the youngster fell for 28, miscuing an attempted pull to mid-on.

Having dominated to that point, the captain was then becalmed on 32 as he concentrated on surviving an excellent second spell by Hoggard while Morkel unveiled some classy strokes at the other end.

Benkenstein may have relaxed slightly when Patterson replaced Hoggard as he fell in uncharacteristic fashion, although the fact that both he and Morkel were out to edged cuts might have had something to do with uneven bounce.

There was less evidence of that later, however, and Yorkshire may have to re-think their decision to open with Jacques Rudolph.

With Thorp generally swinging the ball into him, the left-hander pushed forward at a straight one and edged to Mustard, who then caught McGrath down the leg side off the same bowler.

Lyth joined Vaughan on 13 for two and again looked assured, while the England captain shrugged off his first innings duck with some imperious strokes.

Cover drives off two successive balls by Steve Harmison sped to the rope and Lyth produced something similar off Plunkett as the 50 stand came up at a run-a-ball.

They had put on 75 by the close, and as that exactly matches Yorkshire's deficit much more of the third wicket pair's strokeplay could soon tip the balance again.

Yorkshire v Durham At Headingley Carnegie

Overnight: Yorkshire 184. Durham 59-3.

Durham First Innings

B W Harmison c Gough b Bresnan... 28

D M Benkenstein c Brophy b Patterson ... 40

J A Morkel c Brophy b Gough ... 37

P Mustard c Brophy b Bresnan ... 92

P J Wiseman b Bresnan ... 8

L E Plunkett not out ... 68

C D Thorp b Bresnan ... 1

S J Harmison c Lyth b Patterson ... 17

Extras (b1 lb17 w2 nb11 pens 0) 31

Total (94.1 overs) 347

Fall: 1-0 2-30 3-52 4-90 5-127 6-147 7-161 8-304 9-308

Bowling: Hoggard 25-4-96-1. Bresnan 26-2-94-5. Gough 16-5-31-1. Patterson 16.1-4-50-2. A U Rashid 6-0-26-1. McGrath 5-0-32-0.

Yorkshire Second Innings Close

J A Rudolph c Mustard b Thorp ... 3

M P Vaughan not out ... 48

A McGrath c Mustard b Thorp ... 2

A Lyth not out 33

Extras (nb2 pens 0) 2

Total 2 wkts (21 overs) 88

Fall: 1-9 2-13

To Bat: A W Gale, G L Brophy, A U Rashid, T T Bresnan, D Gough, S A Patterson, M J Hoggard.

Bonus Pts: Yorkshire 3 Durham 6

Bowling: S J Harmison 8-2-35-0. Thorp 8-1-24-2. Plunkett 5-0-29-0.

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