SKIPPER Jon Lewis revealed that he was unable to watch the last hour of the most astonishing win in Durham's first-class history at Taunton on Saturday.

After being 95 for five in pursuit of a target of 451, they squeezed home by one wicket with Gareth Breese unbeaten on 165.

Such was the tension when "terrified" last man Mark Davies went to the wicket with 18 needed that most of the team and the handful of fans present were nervous wrecks.

"I'd been at the back of the dressing room since before tea," said Lewis. "We were 406 for eight at tea so I managed to have a word with Gareth and tried to impress on him that he should back the guys at the other end.

"Even if we lost a wicket, I told him Mark Davies can bat. The coach is always telling them to maintain their batting practice because they might be needed in situations like this and his words have been proved right."

The outstanding facts about the victory are:

* It was the fourth highest total made to win a game in county championship history

* Durham's 453-9 was 110 more than they had previously scored in a fourth innings, beating the 343-4 to win at Swansea in 1995

* Breese's 165 not out was only his second first-class century, beating his 124 for Jamaica at Kingston in 1996 against a touring Lancashire team which included former Durham skipper Nick Speak.

Breese, born in Montego Bay, says both his Welsh father and Jamaican mother love cricket, which is why they gave him a middle name of Rohan, after the great West Indian batsman Rohan Kanhai.

"I'm just really happy to contribute to a Durham win," he said. "The whole team were very optimistic all day because it was such a good wicket for batting.

"It was a total team performance. The camaraderie has been really good and this shows we have the ability to play well and I hope we will all go from strength to strength."

Breese, 28, batted at No 7, as he does for Jamaica, but he said: "I still get my fair share of chances back home to make big scores.

"I have made a lot of half centuries and not gone on, so it's really good to convert one like this. I was really nervous with three runs needed and nearly ran Mark out. It was very tight."

Somerset looked convinced that Davies was out as Breese played Nixon McLean towards mid-on and ran but the bowler swooped and hit the stumps. John Hampshire, standing very deep at square leg, gave it not out.

Davies survived the remaining two balls of the over, then Breese played and missed at the first three of the next over from Richard Johnson before cutting the fourth for the winning boundary. It was the 24th four of his 348-minute innings.

There was the occasional swashbuckle, but this was a wonderfully measured innings in which he played beautifully straight and hit most of his strokes with more of a restrained punch than a Caribbean flourish.

His sixth wicket stand of 131 with Nicky Peng made victory possible, but it was the 88 he put on with Shoaib Akhtar for the eighth wicket which brought the target within sight.

The unflappable Neil Killeen then contributed 35 to a stand of 76 and there were signs of Somerset surrender before McLean raised the tension to unbearable heights by removing Killeen's middle stump.

On a pitch showing no sign of deterioration, Durham were finally able to expose the lack of back-up in the home attack.

Johnson is never fit for long, and after his seven for 69 in the first innings he took none for 141 in the second, while Andrew Caddick was given an enormous workload for a man of 35 coming back from a back operation.

It was extraordinary that Somerset gave only six overs to off-spinner Keith Dutch, especially as he took two wickets. He had Andrew Pratt caught at short extra cover for 25 and lulled Shoaib into skying a catch to deep cover the over after smashing Caddick over long-on for six. It was difficult to say whether Caddick's applause was genuine or sarcastic.

Shoaib was furious to get out after making 46, and after his highly responsible 25 in the first innings it was obvious he enjoyed batting far more than bowling on this pitch.

Durham began the final day on 174 for five with Nicky Peng on 70 and Breese on 25 and the first priority was to withstand another excellent spell from Caddick.

Peng took the brunt of it and didn't score for the first 42 minutes, while Breese moved comfortably on to 46, bringing up the 100 stand with a cracking cover drive off McLean.

Peng had added four in 57 minutes when he suddenly hit three fours in four balls off Johnson. But Caddick, who bowled 31 of the first 70 overs of the innings, summoned one last big effort to complete his five-wicket haul when he nipped one back to pin Peng lbw for 88.

Lewis later paid tribute to Peng when he said: "Nicky did an outstanding job because the first hour was the key. Against three Test bowlers it was never going to be easy, but we knew if we could get through their opening spells their bodies would start to tell them things.

"It was a tremendous effort by Caddick, and the fact that they didn't resort to their back-up bowlers makes Gareth's innings all the more remarkable. But all the guys contributed to major partnerships."

Breese gave no real chance but survived two late scares. On 135 a ball from Caddick lobbed off the shoulder of his bat and dropped harmlessly at silly mid-off. Then after 15 runs came off the first seven balls after tea he got a leading edge off Johnson which fell just short of the diving McLean at deepish mid-off.

Then came the run-out scare. But this was Gareth Breese's day, and an absolutely unforgettable day for Durham.

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