News

Breese sinks Somerset as Durham surge forward

A round-up of the action from the latest round of County Championship matches

Cricinfo staff
29-Jul-2005

Division One

Nottinghamshire clung on for a draw against Surrey after a challenging declaration from Mark Ramprakash left Notts chasing 203. They were quickly in trouble at 43 for 4 and then 90 for 5 but a sixth wicket stand of 71 between David Alleyne and Mark Ealham gave Notts a chance. However, Azhar Mahmood and Nayan Doshi struck back for Surrey and it was left to Ryan Sidebottom and Greg Smith to block out the final 25 minutes of play. Earlier, Rikki Clarke's 127 and set up the opportunity for Ramprakash to declare and create an exciting afternoon of action.
Gloucestershire's lower order also held out for draw after Sussex had been sniffing the chance of an important win to pull away from the relegation zone. Set an unlikely 317, Gloucestershire made no attempt to reach the target and at 154 for 7 were struggling to even the save the game. Naved-ul-Hasan and Mushtaq Ahmed did the bulk of the damage with five wickets between them but Ian Fisher and James Averis showed admirable resolve to thwart Sussex's efforts. Michael Yardy's third century of the season left Sussex facing a tough target and, despite Jon Lewis's five-wicket haul, it was all Sussex for the final day but, they couldn't quite force the win.

Division Two

Yorkshire made a decent effort to bowl out Derbyshire on the final day but were halted by a stubborn top and tail performance. Firstly, Derbyshire's tail extended their first innings, using up valuable time, as Andy Gray (43) and Ian Hunter (40) both played important knocks. Despite not saving the follow-on, Yorkshire now had only two sessions to dismiss Derbyshire again and this time the top order showed more resolve. After slipping to 20 for 2, Steve Stubbings hung around for two-and-a-half hours and Jon Moss struck a half-century. Luke Sutton's 43 ensured Derbyshire survived with relative ease.
Durham surged to their sixth Championship victory of the season as Somerset's batting folded in stunning fashion. Paul Collingwood's second century of the match, from 73 balls, resulted in a target of 382 for Somerset and, initially, they went off like a train. But the introduction of Gareth Breese brought the innings to a shuddering halt, then sent it into a dramatic freefall. From 84 for 1 they slumped to 150 for 9 as first Breese and then Mick Lewis, ran through the order. Keith Parsons and Andrew Caddick showed some late defiance in their last wicket stand but Liam Plunkett trapped Caddick lbw to wrap up the match.
Leicestershire's game against Essex drifted to a draw following Aftab Habib's unbeaten 153, his first century of the summer. He added 178 with Paul Nixon (85) to remove any danger for Leicestershire after they had been 123 for 6 before rain interveneded on the second day. When HD Ackerman declared it left Essex with only a session to bat and Ravinder Bopara eased his way to 48.