Durham v Lancashire (Liverpool Victoria County Championship) : Day Four

DURHAM coach Martyn Moxon will be emphasising that there can be no lapses in concentration following the 128-run defeat by Lancashire at Riverside.

Skipper Dale Benkenstein led a determined rearguard with an innings of 88 on Saturday, but it came too late after the mistakes of the first two days.

England one-day bowler Sajid Mahmood broke Durham's resistance in the final session, hurrying one on to Benkenstein to have him lbw for 88 and from 228 for six at tea Durham were all out for 272.

It could have been a very tight contest had Durham not dropped five slip catches in Lancashire's first innings, and Moxon said: "We have to make sure we are switched on for every ball.

"That goes for batting as well.

They have to concentrate just as hard on 20 or 30 as on nought, and it was disappointing that all our top six got a good start in the first innings, but only Gordon Muchall went on.

"We don't want to harp on about the slip catching otherwise they'll get too tense. We don't really have the option of changing the personnel in that area, so they just have to make sure they are concentrating 100 per cent every ball.

"In this division the teams who make the fewest mistakes will come out on top, and that's what happened in this match.

"We also felt we were on the rough end of some decisions, but hopefully over the season they will balance themselves out."

Welshman Jeff Evans, who gave three poor decisions against Durham, kept his finger down on Saturday when Glen Chapple's lbw appeals against Jimmy Maher on 43 and Benkenstein on four looked far better than Mahmood's shout which brought Jon Lewis's exit the previous evening.

That was the only scare for Benkenstein, who played impeccably until he was pinned by Mahmood in the fourth over after tea, and there could be no complaints about this decision.

Prolonged resistance is not Ottis Gibson's forte and in Mahmood's next over he drove to mid-off, then at 259 for eight Chapple took the new ball and knocked out Graham Onions' off stump with his third ball.

It gave Chapple a four-wicket haul in both innings, but Mahmood wrapped up the victory when a yorker length ball had Callum Thorp lbw.

Thorp didn't appear to like this decision, but as he and Neil Killeen still had an hour to survive it probably didn't affect the result.

Durham began the final day on 30 for two, 370 behind, but on a sound pitch they lost only one wicket in the morning session.

That came towards the end of a testing ten-over opening spell from Chapple, who looked particularly threatening when he went round the wicket to the left-hand pair of Maher and Gary Pratt.

The switch brought the wicket of Pratt, who survived 57 balls for 20 before being deceived by a slower one which swung in and yorked him. It was a fine piece of bowling.

Maher dug in doggedly either side of taking three fours in an over off Tom Smith, two clipped to the leg side and one straight driven.

Smith was required to bowl into the chilly wind before making way for Dominic Cork, who didn't bowl in the first innings after twisting his ankle while batting.

There was also a question over the fitness of Gary Keedy, but he defied an injured spinning finger to have Maher taken off bat and pad at silly point for 63 in the third over after lunch.

The Queenslander faced 147 balls and hit ten fours, but had his concentration disturbed on 58 when he pushed a leg-side single off Mahmood and the handle came away from his bat.

Benkenstein then put on 66 with Gareth Breese, who withstood some fiery stuff - and some verbals - from Cork bowling downwind, but when Chapple returned his first ball had Breese caught at the wicket for 33.

Four overs later Chapple also had Phil Mustard caught by Luke Sutton, but Benkenstein twice swept Keedy for four and also cut him to the boundary in the same over to reach 80 at tea.

The end was swift following the South African's exit, but the top two sides in last season's second division had produced an absorbing four-day contest.

During their first decade in firstclass cricket the sort of situation Durham faced at the start of the day invariably brought a swift demise, but the steel which underpinned last season's promotion was again evident and the batsmen will also take heart from the improved pitches.

Full Scorecard

Durham v Lancashire at Riverside (Lancashire Won Toss)

Lancashire First Innings
M J Chilton c Breese b Killeen 44
I J Sutcliffe c Breese b Onions 6
M B Loye c Maher b Breese 114
S G Law c Mustard b Thorp 45
P J Horton lbw b Gibson 21
L D Sutton lbw b Gibson 58
G Chapple c Muchall b Thorp 82
D G Cork b Gibson 16
T C Smith b Onions 2
S I Mahmood lbw b Gibson 7
G Keedy not out 5
Extras (lb10 w1 nb10 pens 0) 21
Total (113.5 overs) 421
Fall: 1-10 2-107 3-194 4-243 5-243 6-353 7-388
8-391 9-406
Bowling: Gibson 28.5-1-106-4. Onions 24-2-117-
2. Thorp 23-8-58-2. Killeen 19-5-47-1.
Benkenstein 10-2-40-0. Breese 9-1-43-1.

Durham First Innings
J J Lewis c Law b Smith 33
J P Maher c Sutton b Smith 22
G J Muchall c Horton b Chapple 102
G J Pratt c Sutcliffe b Keedy 25
D M Benkenstein lbw b Smith 37
G R Breese c Sutton b Chilton 26
P Mustard c Sutton b Chapple 10
O D Gibson lbw b Smith 6
C D Thorp c Sutton b Chapple 10
N Killeen not out 5
Extras (b5 lb8 pens 0) 13
Total (95.4 overs) 289
Fall: 1-47 2-72 3-110 4-183 5-232 6-251 7-
259 8-277 9-277
Bowling: Chapple 27.4-5-74-4. Mahmood 22-5-
62-0. Smith 21-4-72-4. Keedy 22.3-3-67-1. Chilton
2.3-1-1-1.

Lancashire Second Innings
I J Sutcliffe c Muchall b Onions 17
M J Chilton b Onions 57
M B Loye lbw b Gibson 3
S G Law not out 111
P J Horton run out 19
L D Sutton c Breese b Killeen 23
G Chapple c Mustard b Thorp 27
T C Smith not out 1
Extras (b1 lb7 nb2 pens 0) 10
Total 6 wkts dec (77 overs) 268
Fall: 1-23 2-32 3-133 4-180 5-218 6-265
Did Not Bat: D G Cork, S I Mahmood, G Keedy.
Bowling: Gibson 17-4-34-1. Onions 16-4-46-2.
Thorp 12-1-48-1. Killeen 13-0-39-1. Breese 18-3-
87-0. Benkenstein 1-0-6-0.

Durham Second Innings
J J Lewis lbw b Mahmood 2
J P Maher c Law b Keedy 63
G J Muchall c Sutton b Keedy 1
G J Pratt b Chapple 20
D M Benkenstein lbw b Mahmood 88
G R Breese c Sutton b Chapple 33
P Mustard c Sutton b Chapple 4
O D Gibson c Chapple b Mahmood 11
C D Thorp lbw b Mahmood 19
G Onions b Chapple 10
N Killeen not out 0
Extras (b5 lb13 w1 nb2 pens 0) 21
Total (93.4 overs) 272
Fall: 1-7 2-14 3-63 4-129 5-195 6-205 7-238
8-239 9-264
Total Bonus Pts: Durham 5 Lancashire 8
Bowling: Chapple 22-6-54-4. Mahmood 18.4-7-
46-4. Keedy 28-5-82-2. Smith 9-3-29-0. Cork 13-
3-36-0. Chilton 3-0-7-0.

Lancashire (22pts) beat Durham (5pts) by 128 runs