By D J Rutnagur at Riverside
First day of four: Durham (32-0) trail Surrey (323) by 291 runs
SURREY became only the fourth team batting first at the Riverside this season to total over 300, but still did not do themselves full justice.
Their resilience compensated for the tribulations they brought upon themselves with a series of loose shots. However, in fairness to Surrey, who trail leaders Leicestershire by five points, they were compelled to bat with a sense of urgency in view of a weather forecast which indicates possible hold-ups during the last two days.
Despite a buccaneering 51 off as many balls by Alistair Brown and his partnership of 82 with Ben Hollioake, they were 168 for five at one stage. But they were lifted to a level of respectability by a seventh-wicket stand of 95 between Adam Hollioake, who played a true captain's innings of 67, and Martin Bicknell.
During a morning that rain shortened by 11 overs, Surrey had lost three wickets in acquiring 82 runs.
The pitch offered occasional high bounce and the cloud cover helped the ball to swing. Under the circumstances, Surrey were fortunate that Durham's attack was badly depleted by injuries and only John Wood, who finished with four for 24, bowled with sustained accuracy and hostility.
Steve Harmison might have impressed the England captain with the speed he initially worked up but less with his contribution to extras with eight no-balls and three wides.
Mark Butcher was an early lbw victim to Wood and, right after the stoppage for rain, Stewart, who was just getting into his stride, sliced a drive at a widish outswinger from Martin Saggers. Shahid too edged a drive.
An interlude of clear skies and bright sunshine gave Brown the scope to bat without inhibitions.
But he too played a poor shot at the very next ball after completing his fifty with his 10th four.
Day 2: Surrey's challenge dampened by rain
By D J Rutnagur at Riverside
Second day of four: Durham (72-1) trail Surrey (323) by 251 runs
A WET morning and frequent squalls in the afternoon slowed down Surrey's race for the championship to damaging proportions, with events at Grace Road adding to their agony. Only 14 overs were possible and Surrey's only gain of the day was the wicket of Jonathan Lewis.
Play did not start until after lunch and only three overs could be played before the rain returned. Lewis, playing forward to Joey Benjamin, was caught behind.
With the pitch freshened by the rain, the ball moved off the seam quite consistently when play resumed. Playing gingerly, with backlift restricted to a minimum, John Morris and Mike Roseberry added 21 runs before Roseberry was struck a blow on his right hand by Martin Bicknell.
He was forced to retire and for the remaining two overs and five balls, Morris had a night watchman in Martin Saggers who, with two other seam bowlers, Simon Lugsden and Jason Saerle, had learnt of his release from the staff earlier in the day.
Day 3: Morris deepens Surrey's misery
By D J Rutnagur at Riverside
Third day of four: Durham (231-3) trail Surrey (323) by 92 runs
A VINTAGE century by John Morris severely damaged Surrey's title hopes. With an undefeated innings as sturdy as the man himself, Morris prevented Surrey from taking any advantage on a day which rain truncated by 64 overs in addition to the 101 lost over the first two days.
An attempt at a contrived result today cannot be ruled out, although with the weather so dreadfully unsettled, chances are remote.
Leicestershire's triumph at Grace Road was not the only piece of bad news for Surrey. They also learned that Saqlain Mushtaq, who has taken 40 of his 63 wickets this season at the Oval, will not be available for the decisive battle with the leaders on Thursday.
Pakistan, who are participating in the Sahara Cup one-day tournament in Toronto, beginning today, have turned down Surrey's request to let them retain the off-spinner's services until the end of the campaign.
Saqlain, however, has played only a minor role in this contest. He did not get his first bowl yesterday until after lunch and he had delivered just three overs before the heavens opened. Not that the seam bowlers posed any problems on a pitch that had become depressingly slow.
Almost an hour passed before they prised out the nightwatchman, Martin Saggers, who edged a drive at Ben Hollioake. Their only other success was the wicket of Mike Roseberry, who resumed his innings with a damaged thumb. He played on driving at Mark Butcher.
Once past 50, which Morris completed off 86 balls, he became increasingly belligerent, square-cutting Ben Hollioake and twice lofting Butcher for sixes as he plundered the second fifty to his century from just 59 balls.
Day 4: Benjamin ace gives Surrey winning hand
By Rob Steen at The Riverside
Surrey (323& 142-1 dec) beat Durham (253-3 dec & 91) by 121 runs
HE who dares, indeed. Adam Hollioake may not be renowned for his accomplishments at the roulette wheel or his dexterity at blackjack, but there can be little doubting his gambler's instincts.
Durham held all the aces here yesterday and a couple of kings to boot. But the Surrey captain had a 37-year-old joker in his hand in Joey Benjamin, and ultimately left the table with sufficient chips to ensure that this week's showdown with Leicestershire is accorded the gravitas it so richly deserves.
``Get your prayer mats out,'' the PA announcer advised the hardy souls huddled in the stands before hostilities resumed. He was referring to the morose skies but the recommendation would have been no less apposite to the visitors. At that juncture, after all, the prospects of Surrey keeping their championship hopes alive until the final furlong looked remote indeed.
Given the havoc caused by the elements on Thursday and Friday, the machinations required to contrive a result might have daunted Machiavelli himself. Huff and puff as they undoubtedly will, however, Leicestershire can have no grounds for complaint, since there was incentive aplenty for Durham. Victory would preserve their visions of a top-eight finish and hence qualification for next year's much-derided - and as yet deservedly sponsor-free Super Cup; no mean feat for a county whose previous best placing is 16th.
All the same, the ball was firmly in Hollioake major's court. Whatever concessions had to be made, whatever risks needed to be taken, he would have to be responsible for the lion's share. Oh, to have been a fly on the wall during his negotiations with that redoubtable Tasmanian David Boon, a chap who regards generosity on the field as high treason.
The hour's delay gave them breathing space if nothing else, and if the early going deserved contempt, the end assuredly justified the means. The overture saw Durham, 231 for three overnight, tonk 22 from a solitary over as Jonathan Batty, the Surrey wicketkeeper, served up a series of appetising leg-stump, long-hops.
The second bonus point thus secured held a wider significance, confirming that the hosts would attain their highest place in the table to date. The immediate objective achieved, Boon declared 70 behind, and played a full, if scarcely enthusiastic part in the ensuing shenanigans, obligingly airing his seldom-glimpsed off-breaks as Mark Butcher and Alec Stewart hustled Surrey to 142 for one in 16 overs. ``Rubbish,'' fulminated one spectator as Stewart set the tone with a boundary off Boon's first offering and John Morris, the nearest fielder, disdained the chase. ``Nah,'' countered another local, ``Morris always fields like that.''
The upshot was a target of 213 in 61 overs, distinctly philanthropic so far as Surrey were concerned but then the options were not so much limited as non-existent. The carrot had to be a substantial one. That said, it soon became abundantly clear that the pitch was not so much a useful ally as chief cheerleader.
Encouraged by variable bounce and liberal movement off the seam, Benjamin and Martin Bicknell proved irresistible. Bicknell performed much as he has done all summer long, surging stiffly in with those pumping knees and elbows, giving the batsmen nothing but migraines, but Benjamin, usurped as his regular new-ball partner by the injured Alex Tudor, was another kettle of cod entirely.
Prior to this match his season's labours had amounted to six games and 14 wickets; by tea, his figures were five for 21, the outcome a foregone conclusion.
Fresh from his unbeaten 140 first time, Morris was first to succumb, pinned on his crease by a leg-cutter and caught behind. Three overs later Bicknell trapped Jon Lewis; three balls later he accounted for Jimmy Daley, off-bail nicked as the baffled victim aimed to leg. From then on the ageless Benjamin held sway. Sending down 17 successive overs in a spell broken only by tea, he produced an absolute peach to bowl Mike Roseberry, pitching leg and hitting off, and one no less worthy to dispose of Boon, caught behind after 16 overs of near-strokeless occupation.
Thereafter, the only threat was rain. A flurry arrived after tea, just as John Wood and Steve Harmison, the last pair, were digging in for the most productive stand of the innings. Having averted the twin ignominies of the season's lowest total (61) and the worst in Durham's history (67) Wood drove merrily before Ben Hollioake shivered his timbers with more than an hour to spare.
``Everything went our way today,'' acknowledged Adam Hollioake. ``The weather, the nicks. God was on our side. He's not going to kick us in the teeth now.''
Ah, the power of religion.