Stoneman making fist of second chance with Durham

May 30 2010 by Stuart Rayner, Sunday Sun

MARK Stoneman is on his second chance.

After beating Warwickshire last August, Durham finally lost patience waiting for the talented left-hander opener to string together enough eye-catching shots to make a substantial score.

When Scotsman Kyle Coetzer made a flying start as his replacement, it looked like we might never see Stoneman in Durham colours again.

Now Coetzer’s form has wobbled, Stoneman has been granted a reprieve. The man they call “Rocky” has made a good fist of taking it.

He needs to. This is Durham’s last game before the crash, bang, wallop of Twenty20 cricket and since Stoneman has never played competitive limited-overs cricket for the county, he needs to make an impression before the proper stuff is mothballed for a month.

He has at least been handed his second chance when in good form. Stoneman recently made a club-record 282 for the seconds and only his second first-class century, albeit against Durham University.

Understandably on a juiced-up pitch, he did not start like a man on top of his game, taking 18 balls getting off the mark. It was not a problem – this is four-day cricket.

And in the third mini-session between the showers, as the change bowlers had their go, he unveiled some nifty shots.

Three well-struck boundaries – one either side of the wicket, the other straight – took his partnership with Gordon Muchall past 50. By the time bad light brought things to a halt shortly before 6pm, Durham were 65-1.

Phil Mustard’s decision to bat after a five-hour rain delay with more to come was surprising and did not take long to cost Durham a wicket.

Michael Di Venuto pulled the third ball of the innings straight to square leg but placed the next better, hitting it for four. He followed it by not offering a shot to Chris Woakes, heading back to the makeshift pavilion before Stoneman had faced a ball.

The other man making his first Championship appearance this season, Muchall, had a couple of near misses before rain sent the players in for a matter of minutes. By the time the batsmen got through the maze to the temporary dressing rooms they had to turn around.