Durham will push button on Tykes

Jul 10 2009 by Steve Brown, The Journal

THE timing comes like a ‘Hole in the Head’, given the Sugababes fans among Durham’s squad.

But Dale Benkenstein insists his side are, nonetheless, relishing their trip to Yorkshire, and determined to ‘Push the Button’ on their local rivals.

The Riversiders begin a four-day LV County Championship match at Headingley this morning, top of the table and unbeaten in seven matches in the competition.

They are boosted by the return of Steve Harmison (and Mark Stoneman), if hampered, Benkenstein believes, by the barmy absence of an idle Graham Onions.

But what he’s really bothered about is missing the Babes, who play the Riverside tonight.

“Yeah, that’s a shame,” laughed Benkenstein, standing in as captain due to Will Smith’s absence for “family reasons”.

“A lot of the lads are disappointed too, they’re big fans. But we have a job to do, and we’re determined to keep our good run going.

“We’re going down there to put Yorkshire under pressure. They’re always dangerous at home, and always compete well against us.

“The wicket does tend to get better over four days so they’ve struggled to get results. We’ll obviously be wary of overhead conditions too, because they can always have a major role in how Headingley plays. They’ve got a good seam attack but if the pitch doesn’t suit them, they might play the two spinners (Adil Rashid and Azeem Rafiq).

“We’ll have a look at the wicket and see if that gives us an indication of how they’ve prepared it, and how that means they’re looking to play.

“They obviously won’t have (Michael) Vaughan. He’s been a fantastic player, one who can really hurt you. So it’s probably to our advantage that he’s not playing.