Mushtaq weaves his magic to leave Durham in a spin

AFTER self-destructing in the first session of the match at The Oval last Sunday, Durham left it until after lunch before shooting themselves in the foot against Sussex at Horsham yesterday.

In fairness, their decline from 131 for three to 209 all out was sparked by good bowling as a beauty from Rana Naved-ul-Hasan took out Dale Benkenstein's off stump.

But the way the runs flowed from the first over after lunch hinted at a return to the kamikaze cricket which produced a lunchtime score of 151 for eight at The Oval.

This time it was a more sensible 108 for three at the interval, but once the captain departed runs flowed and wickets tumbled as though the Twenty20 Cup were still in full cry.

After gaining only two batting points in losing their previous two games, Durham added only one and their efforts were put into perspective as the champions replied with 134 for three.

Durham were not helped by Steve Harmison, having persuaded the England management to let him play, being hampered by the hernia problem on which it was stated last month he will eventually need an operation.

Nor did the lack of pace and bounce in the easy-paced pitch suit him in the two brief spells he bowled before going off for treatment.

Chris Nash, who learnt his cricket at leafy Horsham, took advantage of very pleasant conditions and the featherbed pitch to move from 40 to 52 with two back-foot sixes.

The first was an extraordinary shot straight back over the bowler, Scott Styris, while the second was hooked off Liam Plunkett, who again struggled with his line.

Paul Wiseman gave Durham some hope at the end of a disappointing day by claiming two wickets, but they will need to separate Chris Adams and Murray Goodwin quickly today.

Rarely is a spinner seen in action half an hour into a championship match, but such is the Indian sign that Mushtaq Ahmed holds over Durham that his introduction for the ninth over was no surprise.

He bowled for the rest of the innings and took five wickets to add to the 18 he took in two contests between the sides last season, even though the damp conditions persuaded Sussex to leave out their other Pakistani spinner, Saqlain Mushtaq.

Durham were obviously determined not to let Mushtaq dominate and he conceded 91 runs, but he would be happy to buy his wickets on a pitch offering him little help.

His first victim was Will Smith, who picked him up beautifully over wide long-on for six to reach 21, only to offer a tame return catch two balls later.

Kyle Coetzer used his feet well to drive three glorious fours off Mushtaq in compiling an impressive 31, then sliced an attempted cover drive to backward point.

Ben Harmison somehow edged a sweep to slip after making four, Phil Mustard swept to long leg after coasting to 35 and only Liam Plunkett fell to Mushtaq playing defensively, being taken off bat and pad as the last three wickets went down without addition.

Durham made three changes following the defeat by Surrey in the hope of finding some of the runs which have predictably gone missing in the absence of Michael Di Venuto.

They left out Mark Davies to include an extra batsman and dropped Gareth Breese and Gordon Muchall, with Mark Stoneman, Coetzer and Harmison coming in.

Dale Benkenstein won the toss for the sixth time in nine championship games and sent in Stoneman to open with Will Smith.

The left-hander was pleasantly off the mark in the first over, pushing Jason Lewry through mid-off for two, but without addition he fell in Lewry's next over.

He was stuck on the crease as he tried to turn the left-arm swing bowler to leg and there could be no argument about the lbw decision.

With Coetzer batting at three for the first time in the championship, Durham would not have wanted him in so early. But he looked equal to the task as he and Smith put on 43.

Coetzer's first mistake was to call Smith for a risky single to mid-on, but all looked well as Smith drove his six off the next ball.

But just when it seemed the youngsters had Mushtaq's measure he tempted both into indiscretions to make it 63 for three.

Styris and Benkenstein were both on 24 in advancing the total to 108 at lunch, the runs having come fairly sedately off 37 overs.

But when Styris immediately stepped up the tempo on the resumption it proved an ill omen as Benkenstein fell for 32 four overs later and wickets fell regularly thereafter.

Styris was one short of his best championship score so far for Durham, 48, when he shaped to drive Naved-ul-Hasan and edged to first slip, where Richard Montgomerie held an excellent catch.

If having Ben Harmison at seven was designed to give extra depth to the batting it didn't work, but there was brief hope of a recovery as Mustard and Ottis Gibson put on 33 in six overs.

Gibson got off the mark by driving Mushtaq for six and later repeated the stroke on his way to 25, but both batsmen fell carelessly then Paul Wiseman was lbw first ball to Lewry.

The Sussex openers made untroubled progress until Styris made the breakthrough in his third over, when he had Montgomerie lbw for 21.

Left-hander Michael Yardy contributed only 14 to a stand of 60 before he pushed forward and edged Wiseman to Mustard, and Nash departed in similar fashion for 63 five overs before the close.

SCORECARD

Sussex v Durham at Horsham.

Durham First Innings
W R Smith c & b Mushtaq Ahmed 21
M D Stoneman lbw b Lewry 2
K J Coetzer c Martin-Jenkins b M Ahmed 31
S B Styris c Montgomerie b N-ul-Hasan 47
D M Benkenstein b Naved-ul-Hasan 32
P Mustard c Martin-Jenkins b M Ahmed 35
B W Harmison c Adams b M Ahmed 4
O D Gibson c Martin-Jenkins b Lewry 25
L E Plunkett c Montgomerie b M Ahmed 0
P J Wiseman lbw b Lewry 0
S J Harmison not out 0
Extras (b7 lb2 w1 nb2 pens 0) 12
Total (60.1 overs) 209
Fall: 1-3 2-46 3-63 4-131 5-146 6-167 7-200 8-
209 9-209
Bowling: Lewry 12-4-33-3. Naved-ul-Hasan 14-2-
52-2. Mushtaq Ahmed 26.1-3-91-5. Martin-Jenkins
5-1-10-0. Wright 2-0-11-0. Yardy 1-0-3-0.

Sussex First Innings
C D Nash c Mustard b Wiseman 63
R R Montgomerie lbw b Styris 21
M H Yardy c Mustard b Wiseman 14
M W Goodwin not out 8
C J Adams not out 8
Extras (b9 lb5 nb6 pens 0) 20
Total 3 wkts (41 overs) 134
Fall: 1-47 2-107 3-124
To Bat: A J Hodd, L J Wright, R S C Martin-Jenkins,
Naved-ul-Hasan, Mushtaq Ahmed, J D
Lewry.
Bonus Pts: Sussex 3 Durham 1
Bowling: Gibson 11-2-38-0. S J Harmison 5-0-
14-0. Plunkett 9-5-14-0. Styris 8-1-35-1. Wiseman
8-2-19-2.