Durham in firm control against Yorkshire: County Championship Division One
Durham were in control of the County Championship Division One game against Yorkshire, at the Riverside Ground, Chester-le-Street in England, on Monday, June 20, 2011.
The visitors require 210 runs to avoid an innings defeat on the final day’s play today, on Tuesday, June 21, 2011.
However, the positive thing for them is that they still have 10 wickets remaining in their second innings.
Yorkshire will be looking to improve on their first innings performance, in which they were bowled out for just 185 runs. The team was put into bat by the home team’s captain, Phil Mustard. The decision proved to be a very good one for Durham, as the visitors
failed to make an impression.
None of the Yorkshire batsmen were able to score a half-century in the first innings and the top scorer was lower-order player, Adil Rashid. He scored 47 runs in the innings, which helped his side get closer to 200.
The home team’s pacers, Steve Harmison and Graham Onions did the trick for their team, collecting three wickets apiece. They enjoyed bowling on the second day though, as the pitch had some juice for them. The first day was washed away due to rain, which
left some moisture under the wicket.
Durham started their innings on the third day’s play, but their openers, Michael Di Venuto and Will Smith failed to get going and were dismissed early. They scored five and 13 in their respective outings.
The hosts’ third-drop, Gordon Muchall, played well and scored 55 runs in a very quick time. He faced just 43 deliveries and struck 10 boundaries before being dismissed. He was followed by South Africa’s, Dale Benkenstein, who only managed five runs in his
short stay at the crease.
Things looked bad for the Durham team, but former England’s Twenty20 skipper, Paul Collingwood, showed his brilliance and scored a magnificent ton. He was involved in a very good partnership of 50 runs with Ian Blackwell, who scored 28 runs.
A 113-run stand between Collingwood and Mustard gave an edge to the home team. The solid stand was finally broken with the dismissal of the Durham’s captain, who played very well for his 70 runs.
Collingwood top scored the innings with 108 runs with the help of 12 fours. He had been out of form in the recent past, but came back strongly with this century.
An unbeaten 67 from Scott Borthwick guided Durham’s total to 408/8 before the innings was declared.
Steven Patterson took three wickets for Yorkshire in the day, but didn’t get much support from the other bowlers.
At close of play on day-three, the visitors were 13/0 and will look to survive the final day’s play.