11:10AM, Sat Jul 14, 2012

County Championship: Durham Remain In Relegation Places After Rain-Hit Draw At Worcestershire

Dale Benkenstein will start day two at the crease for Durham v Worcs

Durham remain in the Division One relegation positions after their meeting with Worcestershire at New Road ended in a draw without a ball bowled on the final day.

Sky Bet

£10 Free Bet
- Sky Bet are offering all new customers a £10 Free Bet Claim your free bet now

Relentless rain, from mid-afternoon the previous day through to the early hours, saturated the ground and there was never a realistic chance that Durham would be able to resume their second innings.

In the absence of good drying conditions umpires Steve O'Shaugnessy and Martin Saggers made the inevitable decision at 1pm. In all 215 overs were lost over the four days.

Durham probably felt hardest done by, given that they had established a lead of 105 thanks to an unbroken opening partnership of 67 by Mark Stoneman and Will Smith to start their second innings.

With each team taking seven points, Worcestershire are still six ahead of Durham and they also have a game in hand.

Day Three

Scott Borthwick's leg spin left Worcestershire in a tangle as Durham claimed an unexpected advantage on day three at New Road.

The 22-year-old England one-day international claimed 4-37 - his best bowling performance of the summer so far - to see the home side collapse from 145-2 to 205 all out.

It was Borthwick's dismissal of Phil Hughes for 87 that started the slide for the Pears, the Australian left-hander being adjudged leg before to the slow bowler's fourth delivery.

Moeen Ali and Matt Pardoe both shovelled catches to Michael Richardson on the mid-wicket boundary and then Borthwick held a smart return catch diving forward to remove James Cameron for 24.

Chris Rushworth (3-43) wrapped up the innings by claiming the final two wickets, giving Durham a first-innings lead of 38.

They had stretched that to 105 without losing any wickets when rain halted proceedings, Mark Stoneman easing his way to 41 not out with opening partner Will Smith unbeaten on 20.

Day Two

Phil Hughes made an unbeaten half-century to lead Worcestershire to 100-2 in reply to Durham's first-innings total of 243 at New Road.

Australian Hughes picked up from where he left off in the Friends Life t20, having finished the leading batsman with 322 runs in helping the Pears to the quarter-finals

He finished up on 52 not out on day two, combining with Daryl Mitchell (24) in an opening stand worth 63 before all-rounder Ben Stokes took two quick wickets for the visitors.

Durham had earlier lost their last six wickets for 116 runs after a delayed start due to rain, Alan Richardson causing them the most problems with 4-52.

Gareth Andrew fired out Dale Benkenstein (30) and Michael Richardson (0) when play finally got underway, then also dismissed Scott Borthwick to finish with figures of 3-73 from his 20 overs.

Callum Thorp (30) and Graham Onions (25 not out) put on 42 in seven overs before Richardson was recalled to the attack to close the innings, taking the final two scalps.

Day One

Durham reached 127-4 in the 42 overs of play that were possible on the opening day of their relegation clash with Worcestershire at New Road.

Without newly-appointed captain Paul Collingwood, who is still recovering from a broken hand, Division One's bottom county saw stand-in skipper Dale Benkenstein lose the toss at the start of the morning.

Alan Richardson and Jack Shantry both claimed two wickets for the hosts, but Durham did well to battle hard with the bat in tricky conditions.

Veteran seamer Richardson marked his return from injury by removing opener Will Smith (11), and then went on to have Michael Stoneman caught by Vikram Solanki for 38, ending a second-wicket stand of 63.

Left-armer Shantry then made an impression in his second spell as Gordon Muchall (25) edged to Daryl Mitchell at second slip.

He also produced a superb yorker to send back Ben Stokes, the left-hander having hit four fours in making 22, before rain cut short proceedings just two overs later.