Report on fourth day of Durham v Yorkshire, 15th July 2003 by John Ward

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Scorecard:

Durham v Yorkshire

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Overnight: Yorkshire 448 and 103 for six (White 30*, Gray 4*); Durham 327.
Lunch: Yorkshire (2) 129; Durham (2) 57 for no wicket (Lewis 15*, Gough 38*).
Tea: Durham (2) 140 for three (Muchall 26*, Peng 6*).
Close: Durham won by three wickets.

In a tense final day, Yorkshire lost a match they dominated for the first two days, going down to Durham by three wickets. More dismal batting saw their second innings close within half an hour, and although they made the home side fight most of the way to make the 251 needed for victory, in the end Durham fought their way home to a championship double over Yorkshire with 7.3 overs in hand.

Craig White was to regret his folly in padding up without offering a stroke to the second ball of the day, delivered by Vince Wells: umpire Tony Clarkson had no hesitation about sending him on his way, suicidally lbw for his overnight 30. Darren Gough edged his first ball into the gully, caught by Michael Gough, and Durham were rampant with Yorkshire 104 for eight.

Ryan Sidebottom avoided the hat-trick with a well-placed leg-bye, and then played some profitable strokes, intentional and otherwise, against the as yet uninspired Shoaib Akhtar. A spluttering flurry of runs resulted, only to end after Shoaib shook up Andy Gray with a blow to the helmet, and then had him playing what seemed a desperation shot and ended with a skyed catch to the keeper. He departed for 11, while Sidebottom had raced to 18.

This brought Shoaib’s adversary-in-chief Steven Kirby to the wicket, looking rather like Superman in a heavy chest protector. Shoaib contented himself with trying to dismiss him, but Steve Harmison beat him to it, inducing a leading edge and a resultant skyed catch to backward point running back. Kirby made 1, and Sidebottom was left with his 18. Shoaib took four for 38, while Harmison and Wells had three each, for 45 and 20 respectively. They bowled well, but were flattered by the Yorkshire batting.

After this disappointing Yorkshire batting display, which smacked of casting aside their hard-won first-innings advantage, Durham needed 251 to win. An exciting finish appeared very possible, if the weather permitted.

Yorkshire’s new-ball bowlers Gough and Kirby bowled well enough to force Jon Lewis and Michael Gough to bat warily, but not well enough to cause them serious concern. Michael Gough this time round proved in remarkably aggressive mood, driving and pulling freely in contrast to his mostly dour first-innings performance. Sidebottom, who makes Shoaib look almost like a skinhead, bowled some of the most testing deliveries but was unable to break through. The morning session, as with the evening session the day before, belonged entirely to Durham.

Yorkshire finally did something right in the first over after lunch, though, and so did Yuvraj Singh, as Kirby found the edge of Gough’s bat and the Indian picked up a fine diving catch at second slip to dismiss him for his lunchtime 38. Lewis then took on the leading role as Gordon Muchall struggled at the crease, making 41 before he tried to cut Sidebottom and was caught at first slip. Durham were 97 for two, still marginally ahead on scoreline – but the question was whether they could keep their nerve.

The aggressive Gary Pratt soon overtook Muchall, but had only 14 to his credit when he tried to turn Kirby to leg and was bowled off his pads, to make Durham 117 for three. Very slowly the weather was brightening and rain interruptions appeared less likely. Durham, however, began to slip a little behind the required run rate against tight bowling, while the Yorkshire appealing suggested desperation for further wickets. The possibility of a natural draw began to come into the equation, if neither side was good enough to complete the job. At tea, 35 overs were left with Yorkshire still needing seven wickets and Durham 111 runs, but the home side might struggle if wickets began to fall.

After the interval, Muchall and Nicky Peng began to push the scoring rate along more successfully. Yorkshire had their backs to the wall, and it was disappointing to see several players appeal vociferously for a catch off a clear bump ball to second slip. Shortly afterwards, though, the enterprising Peng was bowled by Gray for 30, the ball shooting through low as he tried to play it off the back foot. Then without addition Muchall fenced at Sidebottom outside off stump to be caught at first slip, and suddenly the balance had swung again. Durham were 172 for five, needing 79 off 26 overs, with their top five gone.

Phil Mustard, the wicketkeeper and enthusiastic as his name, came in and almost immediate hit a crisp boundary, but was dropped off Gray when 15, a hard chance to square leg Michael Lumb, and another hard one to Stephen Fleming at slip off Kirby when 21. But the young batsman kept his head and was supported by his more defensive captain Wells at the other end as they took the total past 200. Slowly they turned the game in Durham’s favour again.

Gough came on to bowl again in an effort to break the stand, but he had not had a successful match, and a handsome cover-driven boundary by Wells showed that Durham now believed they really could win the match – and so did the home crowd. Two boundaries from Mustard in the next over showed that Durham believed they were virtually home and dry, and only 22 were needed when Gough finally took only his second wicket of the match, bowling Wells for 17.

With four wickets in hand, Durham were still favourites to win. Kirby had a few vicious deliveries, and the occasional vicious word, to send down, and had the benefit of cricket’s most unfair law, non-striker Mustard (34) being cruelly run out when backing up properly for a straight drive by Graeme Bridge that was accidentally deflected on to the stumps at the bowler’s end. Seven were down for 232.

Shoaib was the man for the job, and he slogged Gough over wide long-on for a six, thought it only just cleared the fielder posted there. A straight drive over the bowler’s head in Gough’s next over levelled the scores, and finally a thick edge to third man brought Durham their ‘double’, Shoaib finishing unbeaten on 14. Two wickets each went to Kirby and Sidebottom.

Yorkshire could blame the rain on the third day for their defeat, as it denied them the chance, without pressure of time, to build a substantial second innings and bat Durham out of the match. They would do better, though, to blame themselves for their failure to adjust to the changed circumstances. Their disastrous second-innings batting performance cost them a match they should have won, a bitter lesson to learn for the future.

(Article: Copyright © 2003 John Ward)