Date-stamped : 18 Apr97 - 06:19 Lewis starts with double century as Oxford toil By Simon Hughes in The Parks First day of three: Oxford Univ (36-6) trail Durham (353-2) by 317 runs The azure sky, the lush green grass, the copper beeches and purple blossom, the gentle applause, the tactile student couples, those sumptuous players` lunches: The Parks is a perfect place in April, unless you are an Oxford bowler. On the first day of their match against Durham last year they were out of luck as Stewart Hutton and Mike Roseberry put on 334 for the first wicket. Yesterday, having lost the toss, they had to wait three hours 40 minutes and 291 runs to part the Durham opening pair. It was almost enough to persuade them to stay in the library. The omens were inauspicious for Oxford when the first ball of the new season cost five runs. Chetan Patel, a burly mature student, overstepped with his opening delivery which was clipped for three by former Essex opener Jon Lewis, who moved to Durham in the winter. A neat, compact player suited to playing long innings, he was soon into his stride with some punchy drives and nimble running. The young Paul Collingwood, preferred to Rose-berry as opener, played the more aesthetic shots, particularly into the covers, but his placement was not as good and Lewis, rarely troubled on a pitch of wonderfully even pace and bounce, soon rattled up a hundred out of 148. Shrouded in sweaters against a chilly breeze, David Boon watched his new charges contentedly from beneath a heater in the pavilion and would have been impressed by Lewis`s friskiness and Collingwood`s glossy timing. One effortless on-drive was reminsicent of Greg Chappell. Collingwood brought up his maiden first-class century with a typical back-foot thump but, attempting something cruder, dragged a delivery from the persevering Patel into his stumps, to huge relief from the fielders. This brought in John Morris, who had been waiting a combined total of 10 hours for a knock on this surface (last year Durham declared with both openers still undefeated). Looking understandably shaky on his feet, he was rapped on the pads first ball, and the itchy-fingered umpire, Neil Mallender, was only denied the excitement of giving his first lbw by the fact that he had already called no-ball. However, he had to wait only 10 minutes before Morris walked in front of another. Durham will be reassured by the knowledge that Morris is too good a player to have two barren seasons in succession, and the presence of Nick Speak, Boon and Martin Speight gives the middle order a nutritious look. Lewis, too, can make a pig of himself, yesterday going on to record 210 - Durham`s highest individual score - before the declaration. The visiting bowlers soon added a tasty reminder that playing Durham won`t be such a leisurely pursuit this summer. Source :: The Electronic Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/) ============================>Day 2 Students in firing line as Betts hits target By Simon Hughes in The Parks Second day of three: Durham (353-2 dec & 144-3 dec) lead Oxford (153 & 2-1) by 344 runs THOUGH essentially a quietly spoken man, David Boon gave his new Durham team a strong vocal lead when he met them on Monday night, stressing discipline and commitment. "I don`t want to crack the whip," he said, having imposed a sensible curfew of midnight during matches, "but I will if I have to." Quite rightly he has been given total control - there is no manager or official vice-captain - but unfortunately this does not extend to arranging the fixtures. Two days` gentle practice against a novice Oxford side was possibly not the ideal formula to initiate Durham from their adolescence. Still, Durham have made the most of the balmy weather and a perfect pitch, knowing full well they will not get either of those at home, at least for a while. After the batting massacre of the first day, the faster bowlers had a valuable workout, having to extract an obdurate lower order after obliterating the top six. The explosive Melvyn Betts was their main persecutor. Hustling to the wicket off a 14-pace run, his approach now looks more controlled and he generated considerable pace for such an early stage of the season, breaking James Bull`s knuckle among other achievements. He was too quick for the majority of the undergraduates, but Jim Fulton, a rare Etonian in Oxford ranks, dealt competently with pace and spin alike, and wicketkeeper Alex Scrini hit out lustily late on. Boon did not enforce the follow on and after Nick Speak`s failure, entered to face probably the friendliest attack of his 19-year career. But as the consummate pro- fessional he is, he compiled a clinical fifty and was hungry for more until he edged an attempted cut. Source :: The Electronic Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/) ========================>day 3 Durham on the up and up By Simon Hughes in The Parks Durham (353-2 dec & 144-3 dec) bt Oxford Univ (153 & 247) by 97 runs WHEN you have failed to win a first-class match for 18 months, victory over a bunch of students is practically a champagne moment. The heartening aspect for Durham is that with this team they will overcome considerably better opposition. Oxford put up a decent fight but the fast bowling of Simon Brown and Melvyn Betts and the outcricket was too good. James Bull came out with a broken hand to try to save the game, but David Mather was out leg before wicket with 29 balls remaining. Martin Speight`s acrobatic catch ended Charlie Lightfoot`s polished little innings before lunch, but though both Brown and Betts then produced lively, demanding spells, the Oxford batsmen were not prised out easily. Chetan Patel`s beefy method enlivened a sombre afternoon, and there was plenty of interest on the periphery. Beside the sightscreen the bobble-hatted Alan Knott performed a video-vigil, filming the entire day`s play for wicketkeeper Speight. It might just be a record of Durham`s real arrival. Source :: The Electronic Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/) Contributed by The Management (help@cricinfo.com)