Durham v Sussex (County Championship): Day One

DURHAM are making a habit of scoring two centuries in an innings against their predecessors as champions, and for Michael Di Venuto and Will Smith it was the second time they had been involved yesterday.

Smith and Dale Benkenstein reached three figures last year at Hove, while Di Venuto and Gordon Muchall achieved the feat on the Sussex ground this season.

Di Venuto was much the more fluent on that occasion and this time he would have dominated the second-wicket stand of 231 had he not seen much less than his fair share of the strike.

The discrepancy was most remarkable in the afternoon session, when Di Venuto faced 76 balls, compared with 135 for Smith.

In taking 291 deliveries to reach his first century of the season, the captain pursued the same stoical approach which set up an innings win at Trent Bridge two weeks ago.

Following a lean run, he was out for 87 against Nottinghamshire, but he was clearly determined that his disciplined graft would have a three-figure reward this time.

He needed a bit of luck, however, as he was on 90 when Corey Collymore and Yasir Arafat took the new ball and he edged both for two of his 12 fours before being beaten by Arafat on 99.

A comfortable steer to third man took him to his cherished hundred, but he faced only two more balls before Collymore shot one through at shin height to hit his off stump.

With Di Venuto unbeaten on a magnificent 141, Durham were 264 for two at the close from 93 overs when bad light ended play ten minutes early. They have 27 overs today in which to try to reach 350 for the fourth batting point, which they failed by one run to pick up at Trent Bridge.

Smith and Di Venuto moved into third place in the highest second-wicket stand in Durham’s first-class history, falling 27 short of the 258 put on by Martin Love and Jon Lewis against Nottinghamshire at Riverside in 2001.

Di Venuto became the first batsman to score four championship centuries in a season for Durham since Paul Collingwood managed five in 2005 before graduating to the England team.

The Tasmanian completed his ton from 150 balls, seven fewer than it took Smith to reach 50, and the impression was that had he seen more of the bowling Di Venuto might have plundered runs even more mercilessly against his original county.

The four-day gulf which has opened up between the sides was all too evident, with Sussex beginning the match only two points above the relegation zone and not looking capable of bowling sides out.

Mark Stoneman scored the day’s first runs with a lovely drive for four through extra cover off Arafat, but added only one run before edging the Pakistani to first slip. With Shivnarine Chanderpaul expected to arrive next week, it will be up to Gordon Muchall today to show that he should not be the one to make way.

Di Venuto had a lucky escape on ten when he top-edged an attempted pull off Arafat over gully, but in his next over the Pakistani was cut and pulled for two fours and the left-hander made no other errors.

Left-arm swing bowler Jason Lewry bowled a testing spell, but the pressure eased when he was replaced by the wayward Luke Wright.

Sussex bowled only 29 overs in the morning session, but squeezed in 35 in the afternoon helped by the introduction of spinners Ollie Rayner and Mike Yardy. Neither made any impression as Durham added 94 in the session, followed by 84 in 29 overs in the evening. It was a far cry from Twenty20, but none the worse for that as Durham strengthened their grip on the title.

SCORECARD

Durham v Sussex
At Riverside. Durham Won Toss

Durham First Innings Close
M J Di Venuto not out 141
M D Stoneman c Yardy b Yasir Arafat 5
W R Smith b Collymore 101
G J Muchall not out 1
Extras (lb6 nb10 pens 0) 16
Total 2 wkts (93 overs) 264
Fall: 1-16 2-247
To Bat: D M Benkenstein, I D Blackwell, P
Mustard, L E Plunkett, C D Thorp, S J Harmison,
M Davies.
Bowling: Lewry 16-7-35-0. Yasir Arafat 22-
4-70-1. L J Wright 12-1-50-0. Collymore 19-
5-44-1. Rayner 18-2-44-0. Yardy 4-1-14-0.
Nash 2-1-1-0.