Durham v Hampshire: Smith 50 before lunch
DURHAM made slow but sure progress in the first session of the second day of their County Championship match with Hampshire.
Will Smith patiently accumulated a half-century in swinging conditions and was supported for most of the session by Gordon Muchall as the Riversiders slowly but surely built a lead.
Durham batted for an hour to score the 22 runs they needed for a first-innings lead, but crucially they did not lose any wickets in the process, By lunch they were 148-3.
Smith was in poor form during the Twenty20 Cup, averaging single figures, and runs did not come easily to the Durham skipper this morning. An sightly awkward pull off David Griffiths was followed by a beautiful off-drive the next ball but he soon reverted back to his subdued scoring rate.
Smith reached his 170-ball 50 with the second of two pulled fours off Imran Tahir in the 57th over when the Pakistani leg-spinner dropped short, He went into lunch unbeaten on 52.
Muchall was the first to go after the pair had added 65, picking out Liam Dawson at square leg as he pulled at Dominic Cork. Muchall made 28.
With Dale Benkenstein (5no) at the crease and Ian Blackwell and Phil Mustard to follow, Durham may look to kick on after lunch, They have dominated all three of their previous Championship games this season but are yet to win any. And with ugly dark clouds constantly hanging over Chester-le-Street throughout this game and rain forecast, they will not want to run out of time to win the game, or squander their advantage by trying too hard to force the pace.
For a full report of day two, read Monday's Journal.
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