WHEN Durham wicketkeepers drop a straightforward catch it tends to be costly, and so it proved yesterday as they lost by 47 runs to Hampshire at West End.

Andrew Pratt has had an outstanding season, but he put down Neil Johnson on 34 and the Zimbabwean went on to make 86 not out.

It didn't quite rank alongside Chris Scott dropping Brian Lara on 18 in 1994, which cost the small matter of 483 runs. But it greatly reduced Durham's chances of their first championship away win for almost two years.

The damage was done when they allowed the three remaining Hampshire wickets to add 96 in the morning before they were all out for 230, leaving Durham a target of 211 to win.

As I reported yesterday, anything over 150 was going to be a tall order on the unsatisfactory pitch, but at tea Durham were 138 for five with Nicky Peng playing superbly. But Pratt and Ian Hunter fell in the third over after the break and Peng was left with inadequate support.

On 49 he whipped a ball off his hips straight to deep backward square leg and only four more runs were added before Simon Brown and Nicky Hatch were caught behind off successive balls.

Brown walked without being given out, while Hatch was swiftly triggered by umpire Ken Palmer but indicated the ball had brushed his armpit.

Durham gambled in the morning by allowing Hunter to open up and he was the unlucky bowler who had the left-handed Johnson dropped when he had added three to his overnight score.

It was simply another day of gloom for Hunter. He ended the match without a wicket or a run and sent down ten wides in all, costing 20 crucial runs.

One of his long hops was smashed through the covers for four to bring up Johnson's fourth 50 in his last five innings and 51 had been added in 14 overs before Durham changed the bowling.

Simon Brown replaced Danny Law and in his second over swung one through Shaun Udal's defences to bowl him for 27, ending a stand of 84.

Nicky Phillips came on for Hunter but bowled poorly in conceding 33 runs from six overs, repeatedly allowing Johnson to cut him to the boundary.

When Hatch replaced Brown he had Alex Morris lbw with his second ball, reinforcing the impression that Durham should not have persevered with Hunter and Law for the first hour.

Brown switched ends and quickly had Tremlett lbw, finishing with three for 31 while Hatch had three for 42. Durham were left with five overs to bat to lunch, which produced just the two runs from Jon Lewis.

Michael Gough hit two cracking cover drives on the resumption but then offered a return catch to Morris.

Martin Love also fell for nine, very well caught low to his left by Johnson at slip off Dimitri Mascarenhas.

Lewis and Martin Speight put on 40 to get the total up to 74 before Johnson struck a deadly double blow with the ball.

Lewis had looked in the mood to win the match for his team, but on 38 he tried to turn a ball off his hip which bounced too steeply for the shot and he lobbed a catch to square leg.

Speight swept Udal's off-spin to the boundary three times in reaching 21, but then had his off stump removed by a ball from Johnson which nipped back sharply.

When Peng, driving strongly, and Danny Law took 14 off a Johnson over to get the target down to 100 with six wickets left Durham were marginal favourites.

But Law recklessly holed out at deep mid-wicket off Udal, then the return of the 6ft 7in Tremlett after teaswiftly wrecked Durham's hopes.

He bowled Pratt with one which kept low then held a simple return catch when Hunter tried to turn a short ball to leg and got a leading edge.

While Hampshire have the quality of Udal and Morris at nine and ten, Durham enjoy no such luxuries and it was no surprise that Peng went for his shots.

He had hit eight fours in his 72-ball stay when his exit left Durham on 159 for eight and four runs later it was all over.

Durham now hope that the return of Paul Collingwood from England duty will help them to get the Hampshire bogey off their backs as they defend their place at the top of the Norwich Union League second division tomorrow.

They also face the same opponents in the C and G Trophy ( formerly the NatWest) at the Riverside on Wednesday.