Durham making Notts work hard
Sep 3 2010 by Luke Edwards, The Journal
DURHAM will almost certainly be handing Nottinghamshire their County Championship crown at the end of the season, but they have given them a bloody nose in the process.
Durham have been far too inconsistent and far too hampered by injuries to their stellar seam attack to be considered serious rivals to Notts this season, although they have at least reminded the pretenders to the throne they are a force to be reckoned when they get it right.
Not clear of the relegation battle behind them, Durham know they need to pick up as many points as possible from their last three games and they have definitely landed a couple of nasty blows on the league leaders over the last three days.
The most painful one probably came from Durham skipper Phil Mustard on the first day when he scored a century and helped rescue his side from 73-4, but there was another tasty looking jab in the face from Gordon Muchall yesterday.
The batsman is set to be offered a new contract at the end of the season and has already gone some way to rewarding that faith in him with an excellent century after a vital partnership of 144 with Dale Benkenstein.
It was Muchall’s second century of the summer and the 27-year-old, who feared he has used up all his chances at Durham when he began the season back in the second team, has performed extremely well under pressure. He averages more than 50 in four-day cricket, more than anyone else in the Durham batting line up and has provided vital runs in the troublesome number three berth.
His knock on another sun-kissed day in Chester-le-Street was a timely lift as it came just a few minutes after the ECB delivered some dreadful news regarding another homegrown Durham player, Graham Onions.
The England Test player has been ruled out for another nine months because of injury. The 27-year-old has not bowled a ball all summer for his county and, according to the current time schedule for his recovery, he will have spent 18 months out of the game by the time he does return to action.
Back injuries to fast bowlers are like poor eyesight for a tailor, potentially debilitating. We can only hope that this operation, after months of treatment and rest, finally solves the problem because, forget all the clever puns, this really could bring a tear to the eye if it is career threatening.
