Yorkshire v Durham (County Championship) : Day Three

STEVE Harmison conceded runs at five an over in front of chairman of selectors Geoff Miller at Headingley yesterday. But by keeping going for 12 overs and finally bowling Michael Vaughan he again proved himself a match-winner.

Miller's presence probably had nothing to do with Harmison bowling for 90 minutes as the paceman has been keen to bowl long spells all season.

But Durham's gamble on opening up with Paul Collingwood at the other end was a mystery, especially as it was Callum Thorp and Liam Plunkett who cleaned up with eight wickets between them.

Durham have an admirable captain in Dale Benkenstein, but there are always dangers in having more than one leader and they seemed to begin the day with a number of theories.

Collingwood set a 7-2 field to the left-handed Adam Lyth and showed Albie Morkel exactly where to stand at short extra cover, while Harmison was more intent on getting Lyth caught at short leg.

In fairness, both plans almost succeeded. Lyth twice drove in the air through the packed off-side field, and also twice fended short balls just out of short leg's reach.

But he seemed to sense it was his day and rode his luck impressively as he sped past Vaughan, who began the day needing only two for his 50 but was beaten to the target then left behind.

Lyth had nine fours in his maiden first-class half-century, which came off 62 balls, and he then made a mockery of Collingwood's field by clipping him through the vast open space at mid-wicket for another boundary.

Collingwood stayed on for seven overs, with the latter half of his spell being much tighter partly because he bowled most of it to Vaughan, who was clearly setting out his stall for a long stay.

Harmison thought he had the England captain caught down the leg side by Phil Mustard on 59, but the optimistic shout was quickly stifled by a call of no-ball from square leg. This was because there were three men behind square on the leg side, the transgressor being Ben Harmison, who was marginally the wrong side of square on the boundary.

This error also owed something to a theory which almost worked as a leg slip had just been posted and Vaughan leg-glanced a four just wide of the fielder's right hand.

Durham have seen little of Lyth, but finally removed him in much the same way as they had in the first innings. Harmison persuaded him to fish waist-high just outside off stump and he edged to Mustard.

The other young left-hander, Andrew Gale, continued in similar vein, although without matching the class of Lyth's strokes.

With only three wickets down, he wiped off the arrears with three fours in an over off Harmison, one of which flew over the slips.

Paul Wiseman replaced Collingwood and in his second over Vaughan went for a slog/sweep, which he middled at head height to Thorp at mid-wicket.

The catch went down with Vaughan on 66, at which point he had scored 18 of the day's 85 runs. But it wasn't costly as Harmison skidded one through to bowl him off his pads for 72.

That was in Harmison's 11th over of the morning and his spell read 12-2-62-2 when he was replaced by Thorp.

Having taken the first two wickets the previous evening, Thorp struck again in his second over, although it owed everything to a poor shot by Gale, who edged an attempted pull to Mustard.

Yorkshire were 209 for five at lunch and in his first over of the day Plunkett removed Adil Rashid with the fifth ball after the break, Collingwood holding a sharp chance at first slip.

Plunkett produced two more good ones to bowl Steve Patterson and find the edge of Tim Bresnan's bat to give Mustard his fifth catch of the innings.

Gerard Brophy lobbed Thorp to extra cover, and after coming under serious fire from Darren Gough for three overs the Australian completed his second five-wicket haul in successive matches by bowling the Yorkshire captain for 34, made off 23 balls.

Thorp finished with five for 71 and his 20 wickets in three matches mean there can be no way back into the team for Graham Onions until a vacancy occurs.

Needing 111 to win, Durham suffered an early scare when Matthew Hoggard removed Ben Harmison and Will Smith through edged catches.

Collingwood was off the mark with a four over gully off Bresnan, and Michael Di Venuto had made 32 out of 38 when Collingwood's next runs came via a leading edge off Hoggard which just evaded mid-off.

Cutting strongly, Di Venuto had ten fours in his 62-ball half-century, but Collingwood did the bulk of the scoring when Adil Rashid was brought on with only 30 needed. Collingwood got out trying to drive him for six in the first innings, but this time he waited for the short balls and pulled Rashid for four fours to remain unbeaten on 44.

Tickets for Durham's Twenty20 Cup quarter-final at home to Yorkshire on Monday (5.10) will not be sold as seat-specific, so spectators are advised to arrive early if they wish to sit in a preferred area. Tickets can be purchased from the box office, during office hours, on 0844 499 4466, or at www.durhamccc.co.uk

SCORECARD
Yorkshire v Durham
At Headingley Carnegie.
Overnight: Durham 347 (P Mustard 92, L E
Plunkett 68 no; T T Bresnan5-94). Yorkshire
184 and 88-2.

Yorkshire Second Innings
M P Vaughan b S J Harmison . . . . . . . 72
A Lyth c Mustard b S J Harmison . . . . 80
A W Gale c Mustard b Thorp . . . . . . . . 32
G L Brophy c B W Harmison b Thorp . 18
A U Rashid c Collingwood b Plunkett . 6
T T Bresnan c Mustard b Plunkett . . . . 10
D Gough b Thorp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
S A Patterson b Plunkett . . . . . . . . . . . 6
M J Hoggard not out . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0
Extras (b1 lb4 w1 nb4 pens 0) . 10
Total (65.4 overs) . . . . . . . . . 273
Fall: 1-9 2-13 3-151 4-184 5-201 6-213 7-
233 8-233 9-253
Bowling: S J Harmison 20-4-97-2. Thorp
18.4-3-71-5. Plunkett 13-0-49-3. Collingwood
7-1-31-0. Wiseman 6-0-15-0. B W
Harmison 1-0-5-0.
Durham Second Innings
B W Harmison c Bresnan b Hoggard . 2
M J Di Venuto not out . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
W R Smith c Brophy b Hoggard . . . . . 0
P D Collingwood not out . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Extras (nb2 pens 0) . . . . . . . . . . 2
Total 2 wkts (27.2 overs) . . . 113
Fall: 1-8 2-8
Did Not Bat: C D Thorp, D M Benkenstein,
P Mustard, J A Morkel, P J Wiseman, L E
Plunkett, S J Harmison.
Bowling: Hoggard 6-1-22-2. Bresnan 8-2-
35-0. Patterson 8-3-19-0. Gough 2-1-10-0.
A U Rashid 3.2-0-27-0.
Durham (20pts) beat Yorkshire (3pts) by 8 wkts