Saturday, July 19, 2008

Durham surge to the top

First Division

Durham moved to the top of the table with a ten-wicket win over Surrey at a blustery Guildford. Surrey appeared to be well on course towards batting their way to a draw as they reached 261 for 3, but with lunch in sight Usman Afzal was caught behind cutting for 73, ending a fourth-wicket stand of 135 with Jon Batty (50). It was downhill all the way from then on as their last seven wickets fell for 62, with Steve Harmison cutting through the tail with 3 for 10 in 13 balls. Set 134 in 45 overs, Durham wasted no time as Mark Stoneman (60*) and Michael Di Venuto (57*) laid into a listless Surrey attack to reach their target with more than ten overs in hand.

Somerset moved to the top of Division One - however briefly - after 45 minutes of play on the final day which was all they needed to beat Kent by 246 runs at Taunton. Steffan Jones took the last three wickets, ending with 5 for 53. Jones had McLaren caught behind by Craig Kieswetter for 23, the keeper diving to his left, then next ball Robbie Joseph played all round one and had an lbw shout turned down against Martin Saggers on the hat-trick delivery. Jones claimed Saggers soon enough from a short ball pushed to James Hildreth in the gully and leave Kent nine down. With Rob Key absent following the birth of his second child, Somerset had the win.

Ollie Rayner's career-best 5 for 49 helped seal ten-wicket win against Hampshire at Arundel, their second victory of the summer. On a slow, low pitch Rayner - who was leading the spin attack in the absence of the injured Mushtaq Ahmed - grabbed match figures of 7 for 89 with his offspin. This was only the side's fifth win in any cricket this term, and it was the first time in eight years they have taken to the field without an overseas player.

Team Mat Won Lost Tied Draw Aban Pts
Durham 8 4 2 0 2 0 106
Somerset 8 3 1 0 4 0 105
Kent 9 3 3 0 3 0 100
Nottinghamshire 8 3 2 0 3 0 98
Lancashire 8 3 1 0 4 0 97
Sussex 9 2 2 0 5 0 95
Yorkshire 8 2 3 0 3 0 85
Surrey 9 0 3 0 6 0 77
Hampshire 9 1 4 0 4 0 73

Second Division

Chris Woakes took a career-best 5 for 37 to bowl Warwickshire to an innings-and-56-runs win over Middlesex Uxbridge . Following on, the home side resumed on 20 for 0 and once they started losing wickets, they couldn't stop. The loss of in-form Dawid Malan was a key scalp, trapped low in front by Woakes, who also picked up Owais Shah in similar fashion, as well as Murali Karthik who had offered vain resistance with a topscoring 44. Either side of Karthik's wicket, Woakes removed Tim Murtagh and Danny Evans.

It was a day for batting practice at Wantage Road once Northamptonshire just managed to avoid the follow-on in the morning. From then on Chris Rogers' second hundred of the summer steered Derbyshire to 275 for 6, with Dan Birch (71) and Wavell Hinds (64) chipping in before bad light brought an early end.

Team Mat Won Lost Tied Draw Aban Pts
Warwickshire 9 3 0 0 6 0 125
Northamptonshire 9 2 2 0 5 0 95
Middlesex 9 2 3 0 4 0 94
Worcestershire 9* 2 1 0 5 0 91
Derbyshire 9 2 2 0 5 0 89
Essex 8 3 3 0 2 0 89
Leicestershire 8 2 1 0 5 0 86
Glamorgan 8* 1 3 0 3 0 59
Gloucestershire 7 0 2 0 5 0 59