YORKSHIRE’S former Durham coach Martyn Moxon admitted that his side lacked a killer instinct after their run of championship games without a win was extended to 19 by yesterday’s draw at Headingley.

“We just have to be more ruthless and finish sides off when we have them in a difficult position, as Durham were here,” he said.

“Everyone is trying as hard as possible to get the wins we feel our performances deserve, but we have to maintain our standards over four days.

It’s very frustrating and difficult to understand why we are not doing that.”

Durham’s Geoff Cook revealed that Graham Onions would have had mixed feelings about missing the match.

“He went off to Cardiff very keen to be involved in the first Test, but equally keen to come back and play for us if he wasn’t selected.

So he will have had mixed emotions.

“We will have Will Smith back at Trent Bridge on Wednesday, but Dale Benkenstein did a great job in leading us out of trouble here. It was a slow pitch which needed a lot of application and we didn’t apply ourselves on the first day.

“After that it was a real backs-to-the-wall operation and everyone applied himself excellently. The stand between Phil Mustard and Liam Plunkett was crucial because it saved us from defeat then gave us a chance of winning.

“When we saw the pitch the day before the match the ends looked bare and we thought about playing two spinners. But then when we saw the whole strip there were cracks which we thought might create uneven bounce for the seamers. In the end it worked neither way. There was turn from the rough for Ian Blackwell, but not enough from the straight to trouble good batsmen.”

Durham will have to start at Trent Bridge without both Steve Harmison and Graham Onions, but if one is left out of the team for the second Test the rules would allow him to join up with Durham on Thursday.

“We will have to think about that,” said Cook. “It’s hard to win games without those two as it reduces our firepower. But we have others who can apply pressure by restricting the scoring.

“If Steve and Graham both play at Lord’s it will be fantastic for Durham. With Paul Collingwood, Mike Hussey, Simon Katich and Marcus North there could be six past or present Durham players on the field.”