Date-stamped : 24 Aug97 - 03:08 Boon ends Durham jinx By Tim Wellock at Chester-le-Street First day of four: Durham (285-6) v Middlesex THE curse of the Durham captaincy was laid to rest yesterday as David Boon became the first captain to score a championship hun- dred for the county, who have had four leaders in six seasons of first- class cricket. The previous best was the 85 not out made by the resolute Tas- manian in his first match against Lancashire. Since then his champi- onship average has subsided to 29.2. Boon has been the victim of several questionable lbw deci- sions, but everything went in his favour yesterday as he was bad- ly missed by Jamie Hewitt at long leg on 42, while an inside edge which narrowly missed his leg stump took him to 99. Other- wise it was a majes- tic display that included 14 fours. Boon fell for 110 when he drove a catch to cover to give Jacques Kallis his fourth wicket, two of them to good slip catches by Mike Gatting. Hewitt, however, had a chastening day, Angus Fraser was out of luck and only in his post-lunch spell did Richard Johnson con- sis- tently locate the right areas against a team securing their first batting points for two months. Johnson had John Morris caught second ball by Gatting and end- ed Stewart Hutton`s three-hour vigil, but when the door was ajar at 153 for four Boon received pleasing support from Robin Weston, who contributed his best championship score of 36 to a stand of 86. A day which began with a minute`s silence for Bill Milner, one of Durham`s founder directors who had died aged 49, was ended by rain at 6pm. Durham have released Darren Blenkiron, the 23-year-old left- han- der from Bishop Auckland. Source :: The Electronic Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/) Foster has Durham in the points By Tim Wellock at Chester-le-Street Second day of four: Durham 321-7 v Middlesex BATTING points have again been a scarce commodity for Durham, but they were within sight of their season`s first maximum when rain terminated Mike Foster`s entertaining frolic after 27 min- utes. The powerful all-rounder scored 32 of the 36 runs Durham added in 6.3 overs, spoiling Jacques Kallis`s four-wicket analysis by blud- geoning 30 off his three overs. Melvyn Betts fell tamely to the second ball of the day, prod- ding Keith Dutch`s off-spin to short leg, but Foster took full toll of Kallis`s wayward offerings to reach 54 not out off 52 balls with 10 fours. The South African posted two men deep behind square on the leg side, but repeatedly fed Foster`s savage cut, and the York- shireman secured his fourth half-century of the season. Foster may have wanted to score as many as possible before the new ball was taken, but no sooner was it due, than the rain ar- rived. Even without their two England men, this was a game Middlesex would have expected to win as they have thrashed Durham in each of the last three seasons. They will now require some con- trivance, howev- er, to earn victory which will keep them in the title race. Source :: The Electronic Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/) Middlesex rescued by nimble Nash By Tim Wellock at Chester-le-Street Third day of four: Durham (343 & 28-0) lead Middlesex (251) by 120 runs AFTER seeing their flirtation with one D Nash end in frustra- tion last season, Middlesex yesterday unveiled another, whose maiden championship innings promised a long and fruitful rela- tion- ship. New Zealand`s Dion Nash, who was unable to fulfill the second year of his contract because of injury, took eight wickets on this ground when Middlesex won by 386 runs two years ago. This time they might have followed on had David Nash not made a high- ly assured 94. The 19-year-old reserve wicketkeeper, playing purely as a batsman, took full advantage of the absence of Simon Brown, who suf- fered a severely bruised knuckle when struck by Richard Johnson while Durham`s last three wickets were adding 22 runs. Initially undermined by a superb spell from Melvyn Betts, Mid- dlesex then self-destructed to reach 133 for seven, when they still needed 61 to avoid the follow-on. Such perils held no fears for the impish Nash, whose increas- ingly nimble footwork carried him through an eighth-wicket stand of 78 with Johnson before he moved into the 90s with the help of a six which included five penalty runs because the ball hit a discarded wicketkeeping glove. Nash, who hit seven fours off 180 balls, was last out when he went down the pitch to James Boiling and miscued to midwicket, pre- senting the off-spinner with a third wicket for the first time this season. There was also a season`s best for Mike Foster, who followed his innings of 70 with four for 58. Jason Pooley shouldered arms to the first ball of Middlesex`s innings and saw his off-stump spectacularly removed by Betts, while Mike Gatting`s off-bail was trimmed by the sort of ball which guar- antees a passing mention at selection meetings. Source :: The Electronic Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/) Blenkiron aims to dodge scrapheap By Tim Wellock at Chester-le-Street Durham (343 & 78-0) drew with Middlesex (251) BEING released by Durham usually guarantees a one-way ticket on to the first-class scrapheap and with counties trimming their staff in the wake of Lord MacLaurin`s report, the future looks bleak for Darren Blenkiron. The 23-year-old left-hander from Bishop Auckland has become the first victim of Durham`s blood-letting, but after making three cen- turies in 33 championship innings - a ratio bettered only by Dean Jones for Durham - he is confident of finding an- other county. "He backs his ability and so do I," said his father Bill, a former Warwickshire player who also appeared for Durham in their Mi- nor Counties days. "His three centuries should have given Durham something to work on, but I don`t think the people in charge are good enough." Durham, who stopped selecting Blenkiron for second-team games in early July, did not give any reason for his release. But his alleged involvement in the damaging of a club car at the end of last season may have counted against him. "He paid his dues for that," said his father. "But I think it was still on their minds." Blenkiron was one of the first to be offered a contract for Durham`s first-class baptism in 1992, but like other local youngsters such as Jimmy Daley, he has suffered this season through the signings of Jon Lewis, Nick Speak and Martin Speight. Only the outstanding success of Lewis has enabled Durham to make progress and their hopes of climbing away from the table`s lower reaches were again thwarted by the weather yester- day. Resuming their second innings against Middlesex on 28 for no wicket, with a lead of 120, they added 19 in 25 minutes before rain arrived. Source :: The Electronic Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/) Contributed by The Management (help@cricinfo.com)