Davies shines but Durham struggle

May 8 2008 by Luke Edwards, The Journal

FREDDIE Flintoff escaped a driving ban for speeding this week, but he could not escape a lively Old Trafford pitch and an inspired Mark Davies yesterday.

Davies ended the day with career best bowling figures of 7-33, including England hopeful Flintoff for a golden duck, but Durham still go into day two in disarray as the batsmen failed to capitalise on his excellent work.

Having dismissed the home side’s international-flavoured batting line-up for less than 150, Durham looked as though the game was theirs for the taking only for their own top order to collapse.

A bouncy Old Trafford pitch was mainly to blame, but Durham coach Geoff Cook will curse the fact he was unable to select the two batsmen he would – if forced – put his mortgage on to score runs in these sorts of testing conditions. However, with captain Dale Benkenstein on route to South Africa to be with his wife as she goes into labour and his fellow South African Neil McKenzie given time off to attend a wedding, Durham’s batting line-up had a worryingly inexperienced look about it.

Durham’s collapse started with Mark Stoneman, who totally misjudged a James Anderson delivery and lost his off stump, and it continued throughout the final session. With a pace attack including three England internationals in Flintoff, Anderson and Sajid Mahmood, Lancashire are always going to be dangerous, but you still felt Durham contributed to their own demise.

The pitch was lively, with steep bounce off a good length, and it offered plenty of encouragement to a high-class seam attack, but nobody appeared to have the ability to adjust their game and play off the back foot, cutting and pulling rather than poking tentatively forward.

Mitch Claydon, who came in at nine, was the only Durham player to score more than 20 – his 40 was actually the highest score in the first innings – and he did it by attacking the bowlers rather than retreating into a shell. Why did nobody else try such a ploy? Even Durham’s two most experienced players, stand-in captain Michael Di Venuto and England one-day skipper Paul Collingwood, were unable to provide any respite from the tumbling wickets. Lancashire’s lead may be a small one – just 35 – but in such a low-scoring contest it could already prove to be decisive.

It was not what Davies’ effort deserved, especially as his wonderful spell came at a ground where he will always have painful memories. It was here in 2005 the seamer’s lung collapsed in the nets before a pre-season friendly and with it, some feared, his career. Plagued by a succession of injuries, Davies’ career had ground to a halt and a bowler once talked about as a potential England player has had to work hard to ensure he merely has a future in the county game.

Last season, the 27-year-old – who moved on loan to Nottinghamshire because he could not get a game at Chester-le-Street – began to feel his way back to form with a healthy return of 24 wickets. On this evidence, it will not be too long before his name is once again being mentioned in international circles.

Had Liam Plunkett been fit and Graham Onions not on international duty with the England Lions, Davies would have been unlikely to play here. But given the opportunity he made the most of it and his bowling spell was a scintillating sight. Davies was well supported by Steve Harmison at the other end. This is one of Harmison’s favourite Test grounds and he was dangerous throughout with a good line. He only picked up one wicket – Paul Horton thrashing an attempted drive to Collingwood at first slip after a sustained spell of hostility from the Ashington Express – but he deserved more.

The good fortune, though, was with Davies. He put the ball on the ideal line just outside off stump time and time again, and having tied up Lancashire’s batsmen with two wickets for seven runs in eight overs before the interval, he took another five wickets in just 17 deliveries when play resumed.

There was vicious bounce on a good length, which inevitably helped the bowlers, but Lancashire could not cope with him as he picked up three wickets in an over, the highlight being the ball which moved away from the right-hander off the seam and was far too good for Flintoff to deal with. The all-rounder trudged back to the pavilion with a second golden duck of the season to his name and Lancashire, who were already wobbling on the edge of a collapse, duly folded.

Flintoff hopes to be recalled for the forthcoming Test series against New Zealand, but while his bowling is back up to speed, his lack of runs at county level is unlikely to prelude a flood of them at international level. He ended the day with figures of 4-21, but he was outshone by Davies, as well as his Lancashire colleague Anderson, who took 4-31 and did most of the damage higher up the order.

That, of course, is of little concern to Durham’s players, who will be more interested in how they are going to get back into this game with three days left to play. It will not be easy but, on this pitch, anything is possible.