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Point gives Durham home advantage against Tykes
Durham v Lancashire (Twenty20 Cup)
DURHAM will be at home to
Yorkshire in the quarter-finals of
the Twenty20 Cup after playing
them twice in the competition
this week, followed by the championship
clash starting at Headingley
tomorrow.
The Twenty20 match at Headingley
last Sunday ended in a tie,
while Durham easily won the return
by 39 runs under the Duckworth/
Lewis method after Yorkshire's
innings was cut short by
rain.
Durham's dreadful fortune
with the weather in this competition
continued last night when
anyone coming along to see what
all the fuss was about would have
left Riverside vowing never to return.
Two hours after the 5.30 start
of the top-of-the-table battle
against Lancashire the 5,000 fans
had witnessed five overs of action
in three short bursts, while
inbetween they had been treated
to the sight of a tractor mopping
up the outfield.
They eventually saw what
some of them had come for - Andrew
Flintoff in action. With the
match by then reduced to tenovers-
a-side, he was introduced
when the slog was on and
claimed his best Twenty20 figures
of four for 12 in two overs.
Durham made 77 for seven and
Lancashire were eight for two in
the second over when another
stoppage for bad light proved terminal.
Both sides had already
qualified for the quarter-finals,
but the one point Durham gained
ensured that they finished top of
the north group.
There was a half-hour period
when the light was good and
there was no rain falling, but the
square remained covered.
In their discussions with the
groundstaff umpires Barrie
Leadbeater and Rob Bailey appeared
to be concerned that there
was more rain on the way. They
finally gave the go-ahead for the
covers to be removed, but even
then it was announced that play
would not restart for a further 20
minutes, with the match reduced
to 13 overs a side.
Play did, in fact, resume a few
minutes early but within an over
the light was as bad as when they
first went off. This time it seemed
they might continue, but after
eight balls they returned to the
pavilion.
The crowd booed, then eased
their frustrations with a Mexican
wave before play resumed after
the loss of a further 20 minutes
with the action now reduced to
ten overs a side.
The message from this was
that the urgency which Twenty20
is supposed to bring to the
game does not extend to tweaking
the ground regulations in
order to get in as much play as
possible.
Following last year's disaster
with the weather the only one of
this season's five home matches
which did not suffer interference
was the one-sided game against
Leicestershire.
Play began on time but only 13
balls had been bowled before umpires
took the players off in light
rain.
They returned after five minutes
but after a further nine balls
they went off for bad light. The
crowd would have had good
cause for complaint at that point
because two of Durham's previous
Twenty20 games this season
have finished in far darker conditions.
But within a few minutes it
was raining heavily, the only incident
of note having been the
dismissal of Kyle Coetzer, who
was brought in because Michael
Di Venuto was ill. He fell for ten
when he miscued an attempted
pull to be caught at mid-on.
Kyle Hogg came on for the fifth
over and had Will Smith, on one,
dropped off his first ball by Francois
Du Plessis, running in from
deep mid-wicket.
Phil Mustard turned the last
ball of the over to fine leg for four
and when Steven Croft came on
for the first over after the third
break Mustard drove him over
long-on for six.
He also flicked a straight ball
to fine leg for four as 14 came off
the over, but the seventh over,
bowled by Hogg, produced two
wickets and only five runs.
When Mustard drove the ball
along the ground straight to Stuart
Law at extra cover Smith set
off for a non-existent run and
failed to get back.
Then Mustard again drove to
Law, this time in the air, to depart
for 27 and when Flintoff came on
for the next over his first four
balls read: wicket, four, wicket,
four. Benkenstein miscued to
extra cover, Albie Morkel steered
to third man and was then
bowled, and Gareth Breese immediately
unveiled his clever improvisations.
He stepped back to angle his
first ball through gully for four,
then took a single and scooped
the first ball of the next over to
long leg for four.
That was off Croft, who then
had Shaun Pollock dropped on
nought by Du Plessis at long-off
and went on to concede 19 off the
over. Pollock flat-batted a four
down the ground then just
cleared Du Plessis for a six, only
to be bowled for 14 by Flintoff off
the second ball of the final over.
The last ball was a full toss,
which Liam Plunkett hit firmly
to deep mid-wicket, where Lou
Vincent flung himself to his left
to hold a sensational one-handed
catch.
Under Duckworth/Lewis, Lancashire
needed 82 to win. But
after Vincent opened up with a
four behind square off Pollock he
was bowled without addition
then Plunkett's slower ball deceived
Stuart Law into lobbing a
catch to point.
SCOREBOARD
Durham v Lancashire At Riverside
Durham Innings
P Mustard c Law b Hogg .......................... 27
K J Coetzer c Chapple b Cork .................. 10
W R Smith run out .................................. 6
J A Morkel b Flintoff ................................ 4
D M Benkenstein c Chapple b Flintoff ...... 1
S M Pollock b Flintoff .............................. 14
G R Breese not out ................................ 12
L E Plunkett c Vincent b Flintoff ................ 1
Extras (w2 pens 0) .......................... 2
Total 7 wkts Innings Complete
(10 overs) ...................................... 77
Fall: 1-18 2-45 3-45 4-46 5-50 6-75 7-77
Did Not Bat: B W Harmison, G T Park, S J Harmison.
Chapple 2-0-8-0. Cork 2-0-12-1. Hogg 2-0-12-1.
Croft 2-0-33-0. Flintoff 2-0-12-4.
Lancashire Innings
M B Loye not out .................................... 2
L Vincent b Pollock ................................ 4
S G Law c Park b Plunkett ........................ 2
Extras (pens 0) ................................ 0
Total 2 wkts (1.4 overs) ................ 8
Fall: 1-5 2-8. Did Not Bat: F du Plessis, A Flintoff,
S J Croft, K W Hogg, G D Cross, G Chapple, S
J Marshall, D G Cork.
Bowling: Pollock 1-0-5-1. Plunkett 0.4-0-3-1.
No result
8:43am Saturday 28th June 2008
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