Tykes emerge safe from Harm

Jul 12 2009 by Stuart Rayner, Sunday Sun

THE days when bowlers could leave run-scoring to the professionals are long gone.

Once upon a time you could get away with not knowing which end of a bat to hold so long as you could guarantee 50 wickets a season.

But nowadays the bowler who cannot bat is an endangered species in any county line-up.

Lower-order batting (they used to call them tail-enders) often determines the balance of power in modern four-day cricket and yesterday afternoon it shifted dramatically out of Durham’s grasp.

Stephen Harmison’s fiery early-morning spell threatened to regain the initiative the Riversiders lost with a sloppy first-day batting display.

But while Yorkshire’s top six offered no more resistance than Durham’s, there were no rabbits to be caught in the headlights when the visitors tried to press the accelerator.

The Tykes were wobbling on 93-5, in danger of wasting the platform Anthony McGrath and Joe Sayers carefully laid the night before. In the end they made 313, a lead of 135.

It means the relegation-threatened team which has not won a four-dayer since June 2008 are in complete control against the reigning champions. Four of Yorkshire’s last five partnerships added at least 50 – something no Durham duo has managed yet in the match.

The only exception was when last man Matthew Hoggard lasted just three balls, denying the impressive Ajmal Shahzad the chance to turn his career-best into a maiden half-century. But then Hoggy has always been old school.

It had all started very differently.

The way Harmison set off in the morning, it looked like the Riversiders might somehow squeeze out a first-innings lead.

The Ashington Express produced an opening spell of 7-2-7-3, with all three wickets in 15 balls.

More importantly from the point of view of England selector James Whittaker, there was plenty of pace and bounce. Whittaker watched the first session from side-on – the best place beyond the boundary to judge both.

Don’t bet against Harmison being asked to add spice to England’s Ashes attack at Lord’s next week, with the quickie now only eight short of being the second Englishman (after Graham Onions) to 50 first-class victims this summer.

That would be bad news for Durham with a match away to their nearest title rivals Nottinghamshire starting on Wednesday.