By Andrew Collomosse at The Riverside
First day of four: Northants 120-6 v Durham
THESE are heady days down by The Riverside. Durham, third in the table after two successive championship wins, made the most of the 43 overs available after a delayed start to lay the foundations for a third.
And while all eyes were understandably on paceman Melvyn Betts, the country's leading wicket-taker and not a million miles away from an England call if the grapevine is to be believed, it was his unheralded opening partner John Wood who did the early damage.
The Yorkshireman trapped Russell Warren leg before with his first ball, yorked Rob Bailey in his 11th over and then bowled Kevin Curran, playing all round a another full-length delivery, two overs later.
At that stage Northants, put into bat after play had been held up for 4.5 hours because of a sodden outfield, were 69 for five, Mal Loye becoming Betts' 32nd victim of the season before Steve Harmison accounted for Alec Swann, caught behind the wicket.
How Northants must have wished the game had started at 11am as usual, allowing them some overnight respite. Instead, the scheduled 12.30pm start allowed play to continue until after 8pm, by which time Steve Foster had removed David Ripley leg before.
Day 2: Odds tumble as Durham dig in
By Andrew Collomosse at The Riverside
Second day of four: Durham (168-4) lead Northants (163) by five runs
DURHAM'S surge into second place courtesy of maximum bowling bonus points was too much for the resident bookmaker at The Riverside. All bets on their championship chances were off by mid-afternoon.
But a local firm revealed that the odds on David Boon's side have been slashed from 500-1 to 40-1 since they opened their seventh first-class campaign against Warwickshire at Edgbaston almost two months ago.
That is still a long shot and they will need a reasonable break from the weather to consolidate second place by completing their fourth win of the season against a Northants side who have not, to continue the Turf parlance, really been at the races as yet.
The sun was already over the yardarm by the time Northants, courtesy of the vogue for a late start, resumed at 12.30pm on 120 for four. They went quietly, losing their last four wickets for the addition of 43 runs in 22.4 overs.
Tony Penberthy, caught off a no-ball in Steve Harmison's first over of the day, fell to Melvyn Betts without addition, opening the door for Betts and John Wood to mop up the tail. Wood's figures of five for 52 from 19.2 overs were his best since 1994.
Faced with 30 minutes' batting before 'lunch', Durham lost Michael Gough to a hostile Devon Malcolm just before the interval.
But Jon Lewis, Nick Speak and Boon gradually reeled in the Northants total on a diet of uninterrupted seam until the arrival of Graeme Swann's off-spin at 5.45pm.
Lewis and Speak had perished by the time tea was taken at what is believed to be a record late time of 5.58pm, beating the previous best (if that is the word) by three minutes before Boon's hopes of further progress were thwarted by an evening shower and his unexpected dismissal, mis-hooking Malcolm to mid-on.
By the time the 8.10pm PA announcement was made that play had ended with four overs left, the vast majority of the Durham faithful had long gone home.
Day 3: Some cheer for Durham on truncated day
Martin Speight gave Durham fans a rare glimpse of his old batting skills before rain washed out play after one hour on the third day of the County Championship match at Chester-le-Street.
Speight scored 53 of the 81 runs he and Paul Collingwood added without being parted in 15.3 overs yesterday to take Durham to 249 for four, a lead of 86 over Northamptonshire.
The batting point they gained took them ahead of Sussex into second place in the table, although the weather could deny them a third successive victory.
Knowing the rain was on its way, the Durham pair went out bristling with positive intent. The situation suited Speight, whose attempts to adopt a more watchful approach since his move from Sussex have brought little success.