All-round Blackwell puts Durham ahead

Lancashire 181 and 22 for 2 v Durham 237
Scorecard

Durham allrounder Ian Blackwell shone with bat and ball as Durham ended day two of an enthralling County Championship match against Lancashire at Old Trafford with the clear advantage.

The left-armer took five wickets to help bowl the hosts out for 181 before top scoring with 65 off 67 balls as they responded with 237 on day two. But veteran Red Rose left arm spinner Gary Keedy, playing only his second match of the season following a broken collarbone, kept his side in the hunt with a career best 7 for 68 from 21.2.

Lancashire, starting their second innings with a deficit of 56, then reached 22 for two from eleven overs, meaning 18 wickets fell in the day. At the start of the day, Lancashire could only add another 50 runs for the loss of six first-innings wickets this morning after starting the day on 131 for 4.

Blackwell and Steve Harmison shared the wickets, finishing with 5 for 78 from 23.2 and 3 for 27 from 18 respectively. Mark Chilton, who had hit 68 on day one, could only add one more run to his overnight score. His innings lasted 134 balls.

Gareth Cross was trapped lbw three balls into the day by Blackwell, as was Chilton four overs later, while Luke Sutton holed out to Dale Benkenstein at long-on off Blackwell to end the innings. Harmison had Glen Chapple caught at second slip by Di Venuto, while Sajid Mahmood and Simon Kerrigan were both trapped lbw.

After Durham slipped to 41 for 3, Blackwell shared in partnerships of 83 and 45 for the fourth and fifth wickets with Benkenstein and Ben Stokes, both of whom scored 32. Liam Plunkett and Scott Borthwick later shared a crucial eighth-wicket stand of 51 after Durham had lost three wickets for six runs to fall from 169 for 4 to 175 for 7 in the 40th.

Keedy had Gordon Muchall caught behind by Sutton and trapped Mark Stoneman lbw just after lunch. He then bowled Blackwell, who did not offer a shot, and then had Phil Mustard caught at first slip off a top edged sweep within three balls in the 37th over. He then wrapped up the Durham innings when he had Borthwick caught at slip by Paul Horton, Mitch Claydon caught at mid on by Shivnarine Chanderpaul and bowled Plunkett.

Keedy's previous best was seven for 95 against Gloucestershire here in 2004. Fellow left armer Kerrigan, Mahmood and Chapple also struck. And Keedy then ended the day at the crease as nightwatchman because the hosts lost openers Horton and Tom Smith to fall to 10 for 2.

Horton was caught behind by Mustard down the leg side off Claydon and Smith edged Harmison to Di Venuto at second slip. Keedy and Chilton will resume tomorrow morning.