WHILE there is talk of a conspiracy at Old Trafford today, which may yet give Nottinghamshire the chance to become undeserving champions, Durham will not be handing over the title to Somerset without a fight.

It’s likely that the visitors have already done enough and with Nottinghamshire again marooned in Manchester yesterday there would be an outcry if Lancashire handed them victory for the second time in a month.

Glen Chapple set the longtime leaders a ridiculously generous target at Trent Bridge but now that he is injured his deputy, Durham University graduate Mark Chilton, will hopefully have too much respect for the game to become involved in any shenanigans.

The presence of the Sky cameras at Old Trafford may put Lancashire under pressure, but they have nothing to gain other than fourth place prizemoney, for which Durham hoped to challenge them by beating Somerset.

That looks very unlikely, although they did wipe out a first innings deficit of 140 yesterday thanks to Michael Di Venuto diligently surviving for 47 overs to make 84 not out, reaching 1,000 championship runs for the season on 37.

Gordon Muchall gave him determined assistance, making 33 in a stand of 113 before he was bowled by a shooter from Peter Trego as Durham closed the third day on 171 for two.

The championship trophy is no longer in residence at the Emirates Durham ground as the sponsors, Liverpool Victoria, required it recently. But the ECB were making plans last night to transport it to Chester-le-Street for the handover to Somerset.

If there is a chance of either Nottinghamshire or Yorkshire winning the presentation could be scuppered by Somerset’s requirement for an early getaway.

They are booked on a 7pm flight from Newcastle to London ahead of their CB 40 final against Warwickshire at Lord’s on Saturday.

An extra four overs have been bowled on each of the first three days of this match and today’s maximum is reduced to 84.

That barely gives Durham sufficient time to push for victory and if Somerset fail to force a win a draw should be enough to give them their first title.

With the maximum of eight bonus points in the bag they are six points clear and would be worthy champions. They have made maximum use of limited bowling resources and became the first side to collect the maximum of five batting points at Chester-le-Street this season.

They raced to 400 with seven wickets down and 16.3 of the 110 overs to spare, James Hildreth taking them there shortly after pulling Liam Plunkett for four to complete an impressive seventh championship century of the season.

As Somerset stepped even more firmly on the gas the last three wickets went to Ruel Brathwaite, the 25-year-old West Indian triallist, who will be on a hat-trick should he get the chance to bowl again.

He knocked out Hildreth’s leg stump for 105, then Alfonso Thomas backed away to leg and chopped the ball into his stumps and Murali Kartik guided a catch straight to third man. Somerset were all out for 426.

Somerset added 122 runs in 31 overs in the morning with Trego and Jos Buttler going for their shots.

Brathwaite opened up with the slight benefit of the strong wind and bowled aggressively without luck as Trego gloved an attempted hook for two via the leaping Phil Mustard’s glove tips.

Trego, 33 overnight, drove Plunkett on the up through extra cover for his ninth four to reach 50 off 46 balls and went on to make 69, which included a six over mid-wicket off Ian Blackwell.

Plunkett skidded a ball into Trego at shin height to hit leg stump in his first over after switching ends.

The stand was worth 104 and Buttler put on 64 with Hildreth before Ben Harmison nipped two successive balls back to gain lbw verdicts.

Buttler, dropped by Brathwaite at mid-on off Blackwell on 25, fell for 39 and Ben Phillips departed to the last ball before lunch.

The hat-trick ball on the resumption was three feet wide of off stump, but at least Harmison had tightened up after conceding 58 in his first eight overs. He finished with four for 94 in 18, while Brathwaite had three for 93.

When Durham batted again they reached 33 before Mark Stoneman was lbw to Phillips for 16. He has finished the season with an average of 27.13 from 16 innings, while Muchall secured a new twoyear contract and his place at No 3 by averaging 39.07 from 14 innings.

Scoreboard

Durham v Somerset At Emirates Durham ICG

Overnight: Durham 286 (D M Benkenstein 72; B J Phillips 4-60). Somerset226-4 (M E Trescothick 75).

Somerset First Innings

J C Hildreth b Brathwaite ....................105

P D Trego b Plunkett ........................69

J C Buttler lbw b B W Harmison ............39

B J Phillips lbw b B W Harmison ........... 0

A C Thomas b Brathwaite .....................26

M Kartik c Blackwell b Brathwaite .........11

C M Willoughby not out ........................ 1

Extras (b8 lb7 w1 nb10 pens 0)26

Total (100.1 overs) .................426

Fall: 1-48 2-132 3-153 4-180 5-284 6-348 7- 348 8-406 9-423

Bonus Pts: Durham 5 Somerset 8

Bowling: Rushworth 14-1-70-1. Plunkett 29- 3-105-2. Blackwell 14-3-47-0. Brathwaite 24.1-2-93-3. B W Harmison 18-1-94-4. Muchall 1-0-2-0.

Durham Second Innings Close

M D Stoneman lbw b Phillips ...........16

M J Di Venuto not out .....................84

G J Muchall b Trego ......................33

B W Harmison not out .......................... 2

Extras (b13 lb11 nb12 pens 0) 36

Total 2 wkts (47 overs)...........171

Fall: 1-33 2-146

To Bat: D M Benkenstein, I D Blackwell, P Mustard, S G Borthwick, L E Plunkett, R M R Brathwaite, C Rushworth.

Bonus Pts: Durham 5 Somerset 8

Bowling: Willoughby 9-2-20-0. Phillips 11- 1-34-1. Thomas 6-1-35-0. Trego 7-0-25-1. Kartik 14-3-33-0.