Durham v Surrey (day two, lunch) (From Durham Times)

In command

1:07pm Wednesday 8th August 2012 in Sport By Tim Wellock

THE old stagers put Durham in command against Surrey this morning as Paul Collingwood and Dale Benkenstein extended their stand to 132.

Benkenstein fell for 69 when he was bowled by Jade Dernbach 17 minutes before lunch, but Collingwood was still there on 61 with the score on 204 for five at lunch.

That’s a lead of 71 and with Phil Mustard ’s support the new captain will hope to add to the tenth batting point Durham have picked up in their 12th game.

Batting still wasn’t easy on a sunny morning when Durham resumed ten behind, but a straight drive by Benkenstein off Dernbach was struck well enough to get through the remnants of the bowlers’ pile of sawdust on its way to the boundary.

That gave Durham the lead and took the batsman to 49 just before he had his first narrow escape of the morning.

He just managed to regain his crease when a drive by Collingwood was deflected into the stumps by Tim Linley, who bowled throughout the first hour.

Two to mid-wicket off Dernbach took Benkenstein to his first 50 of the season off 85 balls with nine fours, but on 55 a ball from Jon Lewis lobbed up off the bat and went very close to dropping on the stumps.

As he did last evening, when he faced 19 overs for 17, Collingwood concentrated on survival as only 30 runs were added in the first hour.

He then clipped a four in front of mid-wicket with one of his trademark shots before edging Lewis wide of the slips for another boundary.

With a top score of 50 this season, he reached his second half-century off 134 balls, while Mustard was quickly underway with two leg-side fours off Dernbach in the last over before lunch.