Durham inch closer

Sep 27 2008 by Luke Edwards, The Journal

DURHAM inched ever closer to their first County Championship title in Canterbury last night but captain Dale Benkenstein has warned they can still take nothing for granted.

Main rivals Nottinghamshire had held an eight-point lead going into the final round of matches but they now appear unlikely to beat Hampshire while Somerset seem to have dropped out of the equation completely.

Durham, who declared at 500-8 after a century from Gareth Breese and an exciting knock of 83 from wicket-keeper Phil Mustard, had reduced Kent to 159-5 at the close thanks to five wickets from Callum Thorp.

The home side are still 116 runs behind, but Benkenstein, who has already won titles in his native South Africa with Natal, said: “We’ve still got a job to do. We’ve put ourselves into a strong position, but we’ve got to finish them off. It’s certainly not over yet and there is no way anyone will be able to relax.

“Kent need a win to avoid going down, so that’s a good thing. They need a result, they can’t just play for the draw, so that should help us.

“It’s a pretty slow pitch though and they had a good partnership going at the end. It was probably a good time to end last night and we will come back feeling refreshed.”

Thorp and Breese produced masterful performances to put Durham in pole position to clinch the title. Breese resumed in the morning on 46 and went on to make 121, before Thorp claimed 5-61 to leave Kent in danger of crashing to defeat by an innings and suffering relegation to Division Two.

Durham had already established a first-innings lead but stretched that to 275 runs on day three before declaring.

And after Thorp’s intervention, the home side require a further 116 just to make Durham bat again. Kent used eight bowlers in the morning but they all struggled to make an impression on not out Durham batsmen Breese and Phil Mustard.

Both brought up half-centuries with Mustard particularly brutal on off-spinner James Tredwell, who he hit for three successive fours through mid-wicket.

From 289-6 the start of play, Durham had motored on to 428 before Mustard fell for 83 from 114 balls.

Breese, who had been on 93 at lunch, brought up his century shortly before his partner fell. Breese’s hundred included 11 fours and a six and came up off 182 balls.

The stand of 148 for the seventh wicket was a county record against Kent and Breese and Paul Wiseman (34) then added 58 in 12 overs before the latter was held at deep mid-wicket off Joseph, whose final over of the innings cost 25.

Kent made a shocking start to their second innings and were three wickets down for just 17, with Thorp claiming each victim.

Home captain Rob Key got a leading edge to present Shivnarine Chanderpaul with a catch at mid-off, to be out for nought. Joe Denly then gave a return catch to the bowler and Martin van Jaarsveld’s drive was held at cover by Dale Benkenstein.

Thorp struck again in successive overs after tea to leave Kent in disarray at 58-5.

He trapped Geraint Jones (26) lbw with a delivery which kept low as the batsman shuffled across, and then had Darren Stevens (18) held at first slip by Breese after getting the ball to lift and move away.

However, an unbroken stand of 101 for the sixth wicket between Justin Kemp and Ryan McLaren offered some hope for Kent at the close.