Onions leads victory charge as Tykes dismissed for 122

9:20am Saturday 17th May 2008

Durham v Yorkshire (County Championship) : Day Three

MORE outstanding bowling by Graham Onions hurried Durham to a resounding win against Yorkshire at Riverside yesterday.

Following his five for 75 on Thursday, Onions swiftly brought more tears to the Tykes' eyes as he destroyed their second innings with three quick wickets.

The lethal delivery with which he had Jacques Rudolph caught behind for a four-ball duck prompted real admiration from England selector James Whitaker.

Yorkshire were all out for 122, giving Durham a maximum haul of 22 points from a victory by 295 runs which will lift them off the foot of division one.

Adam Lyth, Anthony McGrath and Rudolph were all shot down for ducks and at ten for three Yorkshire were on course for a three-day roasting.

They had been set a target of 418 to win and Durham's tactic of batting them out of the game by not enforcing the follow-on had obviously had the desired effect of reducing resolve.

That much was obvious from the way Andrew Gale came in to hit 19 off 16 balls before fishing carelessly at a ball from Steve Harmison to be caught behind.

Opener Joe Sayers showed that Yorkshire grit is not entirely out of fashion as he dug in to make 22 off 81 balls, but he then became the first of two victims for Ben Harmison.

He went round the wicket to the left-hander and Kyle Coetzer held a good low catch at third slip, then in his next over Harmison nipped one back off the pitch to bowl Adil Rashid.

It became three wickets in three overs when Mark Davies produced something similar to bowl Gerard Brophy.

Davies also ended a stand of seventh-wicket stand of 41 when Darren Gough bottom-edged an attempted pull into his stumps before Steve Harmison returned to take the last two wickets.

That it was a feeble effort by Yorkshire was underlined by Tim Bresnan remaining unbeaten on 32. He was comfortably their best player in the match with 78 runs and six wickets.

Durham were slightly fortunate in that the light was only just good enough for play for much of the afternoon. But they were due some luck.

There are still concerns about the batting and they were again indebted to skipper Dale Benkenstein, who reached 86 in an unbroken stand of 93 with Michael Di Venuto before declaring on 205 for six.

For the final hour of Durham's innings Yorkshire appeared to do little more than go through the motions as they realised their morning successes were in vain.

But initially the Durham pair had to work hard to make sure the position of strength was not squandered.

With a first innings lead of 212 in the bank, Durham were never in danger but they were sufficiently concerned at 112 for six to send in Di Venuto, despite his finger injury.

The damage, suffered in trying to field an edge off Steve Harmison at slip, was to the first finger on his left hand, the most important for a left-handed batsman.

There were fears of a break, but as nothing could be done about it he decided against an Xray, and in the event he batted comfortably enough to reach 45 and allay fears about his participation in tomorrow's Friends Provident Trophy match at home to Lancashire.

Ben Harmison had been sent in to open, but after struggling to survive a searching examination by Bresnan in the day's first over, he was lbw in the third.

The dubious decision was the first of four lbws given by the umpires after Mike Harris, in particular, had been unusually reluctant to give anything the previous day. That could have been because umpires assessor David Byas had been on the ground.

It seemed Coetzer's luck might change when, on two, he shaped to turn Bresnan to leg and edged him over the slips for four. A nicely- timed off drive for four should have helped his confidence, but a four through the slips followed and the next edge went to hand.

The next two wickets went to Matthew Hoggard, who intially posed little threat on his return from Lord's. Once he found his line Mark Stoneman played him well, but after steering a four wide of gully the next ball, a quicker one, had him lbw. Again it was not a clear-cut decision.

Neil McKenzie took his tally to 30 in four championship innings before edging a drive to third slip, then Phil Mustard also failed again, playing across a Deon Kruis swinger to be lbw.

Paul Wiseman made 12 off 20 balls without much difficulty before Kruis also pinned him in front to bring in Di Venuto.

Benkenstein, who has a tremendous record against Yorkshire, had begun with a defiant flourish and was on 44 out of 119 for six at lunch.

As he continued to succeed where others had failed, Yorkshire's heads quickly went down on the resumption and skipper Gough bowled only six overs in the innings.

He gave the same amount to McGrath in early afternoon, allowing the Durham pair to pick off runs in comfort.

That should not detract, however, from the excellence of Benkenstein's batting. His third half-century in four championship innings came off 87 balls with five fours and he added three more boundaries.

Onions struck with his third ball, the lbw decision completing a disappointing championship debut for Lyth. Four overs later McGrath was trapped bang in front when half forward and Rudolph's scalp gave Onions three for seven in five overs at tea.

In five more overs after the break he hardly got to bowl at Brophy, for whom he had looked far too good in the first innings.

But Ben Harmison's double strike ended any Yorkshire hope of prolonged resistance.

■ Durham have ruled out Neil Killeen from tomorrow's match at home to Lancashire.

The seamer limped off with a calf strain after one ball of his fifth over against Scotland last Sunday, so either Mark Davies or Callum Thorp will step in.

Graham Onions will be particularly keen for revenge on home turf after being hit for six off the last ball when the sides met at Old Trafford.

Lancashire have been weakened since then by Andrew Flintoff suffering a side injury and Jimmy Anderson being called up for Test duty.

Durham are at home to Scotland next Sunday and Derbyshire the following day and need to win all three games to have any chance of reaching the quarterfinals.

Tomorrow's game is the Durham's nominated Friends Provident Club Day with a bouncy castle and inflatable nets offering additional entertainment for younger fans. Gates open 10am ahead of the noon start.

Tickets can be purchased on the gate priced at £15 for adults and £6 for juniors.

SCOREBOARD

Durham v Yorkshire At Riverside Overnight: Yorkshire 194 (A U Rashid 70; G Onions 5-75).

Durham 406 (MJ Di Venuto 184, P J Wiseman 60; T T Bresnan 4-73) and 16-0.

Durham Second Innings

M D Stoneman lbw b Hoggard ... 19

B W Harmison lbw b Bresnan ... 6

K J Coetzer c McGrath b Bresnan ... 14

N D McKenzie c Sayers b Hoggard ... 4

D M Benkenstein not out ... 86

P Mustard lbw b Kruis ... 1

P J Wiseman lbw b Kruis ... 12

M J Di Venuto not out ... 45

Extras (b2 lb8 w2 nb6 pens 0) ... 18

Total 6 wkts dec (55 overs) ...205

Fall: 1-18 2-40 3-44 4-63 5-84 6-112

Did Not Bat: G Onions, M Davies, S J Harmison.

Bowling: Bresnan 14-3-58-2. Gough 6-0-21-0.

Hoggard 14-4-27-2. Kruis 10-1-51-2. McGrath 6-0-22-0.

A U Rashid 4-0-14-0. Rudolph 1-0-2-0.

Yorkshire Second Innings

J J Sayers c K J Coetzer b B W Harmison 22 A Lyth lbw b Onions ... 0

A McGrath lbw b Onions .... 0

J A Rudolph c Mustard b Onions ... 0

A W Gale c Mustard b S J Harmison ... 19

G L Brophy b Davies ... 9

A U Rashid b B W Harmison ... 4

T T Bresnan not out ... 32

D Gough b Davies ... 18

M J Hoggard c Sub b S J Harmison ... 4

G J Kruis b S J Harmison ... 2

Extras (b1 lb10 w1 pens 0) ... 12

Total (45 overs) ...122

Fall: 1-0 2-10 3-10 4-31 5-54 6-60 7-60 8- 101 9-114

Did Not Bat: B W Sanderson.

Total Bonus Pts: Durham 8 Yorkshire 3

Bowling: S J Harmison 17-6-39-3. Onions 12- 3-23-3. Davies 10-3-24-2. B W Harmison 6-0-25-2.

Durham (22pts) beat Yorkshire (3pts) by 295 runs.

Editor's Choice