Durham v Derby (Friends Provident Trophy)

CRICKET was plunged further into the realms of farce last night as Durham lost their Friends Provident Trophy match at Derby by one run.

Had the match started at a sensible time there would have been no problem, but Derbyshire's insistence on using floodlights forced play to be suspended twice because of Durham's batsmen being blinded by a low sun.

This proved very disruptive and on the second resumption at 8.20, after 70 minutes had been lost in total, they needed 118 off 24 overs with six wickets standing.

When they lost three wickets with the total on 147 to Derbyshire's latest Kolpak signing, Charl Langeveldt, it looked all over.

But in a valiant last-wicket stand of 39 between Ben Harmison and Neil Killeen they got the target down to 11 off the last over.

When Killeen drove the penultimate ball over extra cover for four he wanted three off the last ball, but he was narrowly run out going for the second run.

A bizarre blend of natural and artificial light had earlier cast a dark shadow over Durham's reply to 236 for six.

What was scheduled as a daynight game had its starting time brought forward an hour to 1.30 because of the threat of a low sun halting play. And that is what happened at 6.45 with Durham looking likely winners after an opening stand of 76.

They resumed after 15 minutes with the sun behind a cloud and the floodlights having no perceptible impact, and lost Michael Di Venuto and Neil McKenzie to successive balls.

Then at 7.25 the sun reemerged and play was suspended for a further 55 minutes, at which point storm clouds were gathering and Durham knew they were just behind the requirement should rain force the match to be decided by the Duckworth-Lewis method.

Through sensible accumulation the fifth-wicket pair of Paul Collingwood and Dale Benkenstein ensured that they stayed ahead of the rate.

But as the dark clouds passed by Collingwood skied an attempted pull and wicketkeeper Jamie Pipe ran back 20 yards to hold the catch, then a swinging yorker pinned Benkenstein lbw and Gareth Breese edged to slip.

Steve Harmison contributed a quick 14 in partnership with his brother, who remained unbeaten on 31.

When Derbyshire skipper Rikki Clarke chose to bat he was probably looking for a total of 230 on a greenish pitch which looked as though it would offer some help to the seamers.

But by the time left-handed openers Chris Rogers and Steve Stubbings had put on 132 the hosts' aspirations would have been much higher, and Durham did well to peg Derbyshire back.

They took the wickets in pairs just as the hosts were threatening greater things. The openers fell in the 28th and 29th overs, then when third wicket pair Clarke and John Sadler were accelerating ominously after a stand of 67 both were out with the total on 205.

Finally Neil Killeen bowled Graham Wagg and Jon Clare with the first two balls of the 49th over, off which he conceded only one run. Killeen was left with an over unbowled in finishing with easily the most economical figures of two for 21.

Steve Harmison had none for 47 in ten reasonably accurate overs of no great menace, although he was unfortunate when Stubbings, on 17, inside edged him for four.

The burly Derbyshire stalwart has been considered too stodgy for one-day purposes in the past, but he provided an able foil for his classy Australian partner.

A straight drive for four in Harmison's second over confirmed Rogers' ability and he eased Collingwood's second ball to the extra cover boundary when the England one-day captain replaced Killeen.

Rogers was only slightly quicker than Stubbings to his half-century - 72 balls compared with 76 - but began to step on the gas when Graham Onions returned, pulling him for two fours.

Rogers had made 72 when he went down the track to Breese in the 28th over and was bowled.

Then just when Stubbings ought to have knuckled down he tried to steer Onions to third man and gave Phil Mustard a comfortable catch.

That meant Sadler and Clarke had to rebuild steadily and their reluctance to cut loose allowed Benkenstein to bring on his own medium pace in the 38th over.

After two tight overs, Clarke hit successive balls for four but fell for 33 when he miscued Collingwood to Benkenstein at wide mid-on. Without addition Sadler went for a risky shot and was bowled by Breese for 37.

With Ian Hunter out of favour, Derbyshire opened up with Tom Lungley and Langeveldt, who began with a wide and was driven over long-off for six by Mustard.

The wicketkeeper departed for 45 when he chipped left-armer Wagg to mid-on in the 15th over and after struggling for four overs Kyle Coetzer went for a duck, edging Wagg to Pipe.

Collingwood just managed to get enough bat on the next ball, an in-swinging yorker, to help it to fine leg for a single. But at the end of the over came the first interruption and on the resumption Collingwood played out a maiden from 6ft 4in Lancashire reject Jon Clare.

Then Di Venuto tried to run Wagg to third man and edged to Pipe before McKenzie pushed forward at the next ball and lost his off stump.

Derbyshire v Durham At Derby

Derbyshire Innings

S D Stubbings c Mustard b Onions ... 52

C J Rogers b Breese .... 72

J L Sadler b Breese ..... 37

R Clarke c Benkenstein b Collingwood .. 33

D J Pipe not out ... 11

G G Wagg b Killeen .... 15

J L Clare b Killeen .... 0

F D Telo not out ... 4

Extras (b3 lb6 w1 nb2 pens 0) ... 12

Total 6 wkts Innings Complete (50 overs) ...236

Fall: 1-132 2-138 3-205 4-205 5-228 6-228

Did Not Bat: T Lungley, N D Doshi, C K Langeveldt.

Bowling: Killeen 9-0-21-2. Onions 9-0-44-1. S J Harmison 10-0-47-0. Collingwood 9-0-48-1.

Breese 10-0-50-2. Benkenstein 3-0-17-0.

Durham Innings

M J Di Venuto c Pipe b Wagg .. 41

P Mustard c Doshi b Wagg ... 45

K J Coetzer c Pipe b Wagg ... 0

P D Collingwood c Pipe b Langeveldt .. 25

N D McKenzie b Wagg ..... 0

D M Benkenstein lbw b Langeveldt .. 21

B W Harmison not out ... 31

G R Breese c Stubbings b Langeveldt .. 0

G Onions hit wicket b Clare .... 19

S J Harmison c Wagg b Clarke .. 14

N Killeen run out .... 16

Extras (b2 lb10 w11 pens 0) .. 23

Total (50 overs) ...235

Fall: 1-76 2-95 3-98 4-98 5-147 6-147 7-147 8-179 9-196

Bowling: Lungley 10-1-54-0. Langeveldt 9-0-44- 3. Clare 10-1-44-1. Wagg 10-0-35-4. Doshi 8-1- 32-0. Clarke 3-0-14-1.

Derbyshire beat Durham by 1 runs