Durham fight back after Carberry century

Hampshire 298 for 8 v Durham
Scorecard

Hampshire were undermined by a spell of sustained hostility from Liam Plunkett after Michael Carberry made a superb century in an opening stand of 183.

As in Durham's opening match against Essex, Plunkett began poorly but improved in his third spell to take three of the wickets as the visitors subsided to close the first day of the County Championship Division One match on 298 for 8.

Plunkett did well to extract some life from another placid Riverside pitch, on which Carberry and fellow left-hander Jimmy Adams looked totally at ease after Nic Pothas chose to bat on a cold, bright day.

With Steve Harmison and Graham Onions both still absent with back injuries, the Durham seamers struggled early on and left-arm spinner Ian Blackwell was on as early as 22nd over. But Carberry swept him for four then advanced to drive another glorious boundary through extra cover.

Adams glanced and pulled Plunkett for two leg-side fours as his first five-over spell cost 29 runs and it needed a touch of beginner's luck for Durham to make the breakthrough.

After remaining wicketless on his championship debut last week, England Under-19 all-rounder Ben Stokes struck with his first ball of the day.It was short and wide of off-stump, but Carberry cut it straight to backward point, where Plunkett held a sharp, low catch.

It had all begun to look a little too easy for Carberry. After reaching 50 off 87 balls, he needed only 53 more to complete his century with 15 fours and a six. But it was no surprise when he was out as he had begun to look a little carefree.

Three overs later the more circumspect Adams shaped to drive Plunkett but seemed to check the stroke and got an inside edge to be well caught by Phil Mustard for 68.

South African Neil McKenzie looked totally at ease in reaching 30, but then shaped to drive Blackwell and edged to slip. The left-arm spinner had a second wicket when Chris Benham aimed to turn him through midwicket and fell lbw, also for 30.

In the final session Plunkett induced an inside edge into James Vince's leg-stump and after dropping Sean Ervine at gully off Mitch Claydon he quickly made amends by claiming the wicket himself.

Ervine followed a ball leaving him on off-stump to be caught behind, and three wickets had gone down on 284 when Claydon had James Tomlinson lbw immediately after Pothas suffered the same fate.