John Ward reports on the first day of Lancashire v Durham at Old Trafford where 20 wickets fell
John Ward at Old Trafford07-May-2008Lancashire 143 (Davies 7-33) lead Durham 114 (Flintoff 4-21, Anderson 4-31) by 29 runs
Scorecard
Mark Davies celebrates dismissing Andrew Flintoff for a first-ball duck. Davies finished with career-best figures of 7 for 33 © PA Photos
Deficient techniques rather than deficient pitch were to blame on a day the county batsmen did not acquit themselves well on a bouncy Old Trafford pitch in conditions where the bowlers could swing the ball.Although Lancashire finished on top, leading Durham by 29 runs, the Man of the Match to date was Durham seamer Mark Davies, who started the entire batting nightmare by ripping through the home side’s middle order to return his best career figures of 7 for 33. True, he benefited from some incompetence at the other end, but that should not detract from a masterly performance. His personal pleasure soon evaporated, though, in the face of even more woeful batting from his own team.In sunny weather and on a good-looking shaven pitch, such carnage was hardly tobe expected. Lancashire batted on winning the toss and progressed withoutundue difficulty to 33, with Paul Horton making most of therunning. Then both openers fell on that score, both to catches in the slips asthey flashed unwisely at the ball. Steve Harmison dismissed Horton, but thebest bowler, coming on first change, was Davies, who kept an accurate lineand length just on or outside the off stump, and reaped a rich harvest.After removing Chilton, he beat Mohammad Younis twice in an over before inducingan edge to the keeper off a ball that flew, a fine delivery. Mal Loye handledthe bowling well, however, while Stuart Law played himself in carefully, andnot long after lunch Lancashire were fighting back on 93 for 3.After this, nothing was the same again; perhaps the batsmen suddenly decided thepitch was full of unseen terrors and adjusted their mental state accordingly.In seven balls, Davies took four wickets without a run being added,and a fifth 10 balls later. First to go was Loye (39), who sliced a ball intothe gully, where Ben Harmison took a sharp overhead catch at the secondattempt.Andrew Flintoff came and went first ball, pushing hesitantly at a ball thatbounced and moved away, and edging a catch to his England team-mate PaulCollingwood at first slip. It was his second first baller in a fortnight. Luke Sutton avoided the hat-trick, but then edged the third delivery he faced to the keeper; Kyle Hogg soon followed, snicking his second ball to second slip. The fifth wicket in this sequence was the big one of Law, who brought up the team’s 100 with a snick for four just over thekeeper’s head, and then was caught in the gully off one that flew from theshoulder of his bat.Lancashire were shattered. Saj Mahmood fought back with 31, looking moreassured than any of his team-mates apart from Loye, before Collingwood nippedin with the last two wickets. Lancashire had been skittled for 143 and anearly tea was taken.”Play the ball as little as possible.” This may have been Durham’s advice totheir batsmen, having seen the trouble Lancashire had got themselves into – allten wickets had fallen to catches between the keeper and point – but, if so, MarkStoneman (2) took it a little too literally, shouldering arms and seeing hisoff stump removed by a quick ball from James Anderson.Unlike Lancashire, Durham never even had a brief happy period with the bat.Anderson was the most dangerous bowler, constantly threatening the stumps,while Flintoff produced a vicious lifter that Kyle Coetzer popped up haplesslyfor a catch on the off side. Collingwood (3) slashed at Anderson and wasdismissed by the sort of fine catch at backward point that he himself usuallyspecialises in. The only batsman in the top six to reach double figures wasGarry Park, who fought hard but never looked comfortable in making 19.Durham’s highest stand of the day was a mere 24, for the eighth wicket, betweenBen Harmison (beaten and bowled by the sheer pace of Flintoff for 15) and MitchClaydon, whose assertive strokeplay in making his highest career score of 40 off38 balls (7 fours) put his seniors to shame. It was also the highest score ofthe day, a worthy achievement. He was the last man out, finally yorked by Flintoff, as Durham were dismissed for 114 in a single extended session.Anderson and Flintoff took four wickets each, with Anderson the best ofLancashire’s bowlers. At the present rate of progress, this match might notreach its third day. Or perhaps one of the teams will produce a batsman whowill display the technique and willpower to produce an innings of real qualityand turn this game on its head again.