Durham fall well short in their game of catch up

9:47am Saturday 5th July 2008

WHEN Dale Benkenstein lifted the Friends Provident Trophy last August, he spoke of Durham's first piece of silverware being "the first of many trophies". It still might be given the county's position in the top three of the County Championship and impending quarter-final in the Twenty20 Cup, but despite the South African's best efforts yesterday, it will not be the first half of a Friends Provident double.

Durham relinquished their grip on their maiden firstclass trophy after an enthralling semi-final at Riverside in which they briefly threatened to complete the biggest successful one-day run chase in their history.

Set a target of 302 following a Kent innings that included fluent centuries from both Martin van Jaarsveld and Joe Denly, Benkenstein's unbeaten 80 anchored a Durham reply that started terribly, burst into life for 30-or-so overs, but then ended in the same ragged fashion in which it had begun.

With Will Smith also contributing a half-century, Durham were well ahead of the requisite run rate at the halfway stage of their reply, but a sudden clatter of wickets saw them bowled out for 218 and denied a place in next month's final.

The hosts lost their last five wickets for just ten runs as the weight of Kent's total eventually told, and slipped to an 83-run defeat that might have been even more emphatic had it not been for the efforts of Steve Harmison.

Harmison claimed all four Kent wickets to fall but, ultimately, van Jaarsveld and Denly's batting efforts proved decisive in front of a Riverside crowd of more than 6,000.

With 263 representing Durham's best limited-overs run chase at Riverside, overhauling a total of 301 always looked like a particularly tough task.

By the time the hosts had lost two wickets in the opening nine balls of their reply, however, it was already appearing all but impossible.

Michael Di Venuto was unfortunate to be given out leg before to an Azhar Mahmood in-swinger that clearly caught the inside edge, but fellow opener Phil Mustard suggested that this week's matchwinning effort against Yorkshire was no more than a temporary return to form when he edged Yasir Arafat to Geraint Jones to depart for a third-ball duck.

That brought Paul Collingwood to the crease and, for half-an-hour or so, the England all-rounder's decision to participate in yesterday's game rather than rest ahead of next week's first Test with South Africa looked like working in Durham's favour.

Rumours of Collingwood's supposed demise looked misplaced as he raced to a run-aball 36, with his strength through the covers being emphasised by a string of flowing boundaries.

He eventually departed when he was trapped on the crease by Ryan McLaren's opening delivery, but his doggedness helped create a momentum that was maintained throughout a 108-run partnership between Benkenstein and Smith.

Carefully collecting the ones and twos, the duo kept Durham ahead of the required run rate for almost 20 overs. Smith was the more patient, diligently accumulating 56 before he was trapped leg before by medium-pacer Darren Stevens, but Benkenstein always looked the one player capable of guiding the hosts to their target.

He might have done exactly that had a partner been capable of sticking with him for the duration of the innings, but after Shaun Pollock was dismissed to a magnificent diving catch from Justin Kemp in the 39th over, Gareth Breese, Liam Plunkett, Steve Harmison and Neil Killeen were skittled for a cumulative total of three runs.

In truth, the writing was already well and truly on the wall by that stage, but while Kent's 300-plus total had always looked far too big for Durham to overhaul, it did not reflect the quality of Harmison's two five-over spells that temporarily stopped the scoreboard from spinning.

Having been deprived of an appearance in last year's final because of a muscular injury, the Ashington-born paceman strained every sinew in an attempt to provide Durham with a second successive visit to Lord's.

Regularly topping the 90mph mark, Harmison combined his usual menace with some less stereotypical control.

Had he not previously announced his retirement from one-day internationals, it would have been tempting to suggest he was the strike bowler England had desperately lacked in their recent series defeat to New Zealand.

When it comes to the white ball, England's loss has been Durham's gain this season, and after removing opener Robert Key in his first spell - the former England international edged to Phil Mustard to end an opening partnership of 96 - Harmison claimed figures of 3-13 in his second fiveover burst.

All three victims were clean bowled, with Denly and Mahmood succumbing to sheer pace and Kemp failing to read a rare slower ball.

Harmison's heroics briefly slowed a Kent innings that was rattling along at quite a rate, but his parsimony stood in stark contrast to much of what occurred around him.

Denly's second limitedovers century provided the visitors with a solid foundation to base the rest of their innings upon, with the 22- year-old, surely an England international of the future, pacing his batting superbly as he showcased an impressive array of front-foot attacking strokes.

On most days, his 122-ball hundred would have been the highlight of his side's efforts, but even Denly found himself overshadowed by a mercurial display of shot-making from the in-form van Jaarsveld.

Kent's South Africa-born batsman, who was the leading run-scorer in this season's Friends Provident Trophy even before yesterday's efforts, creamed an unbeaten 122 off 93 balls, his third unbeaten century in the space of a week and an accelerated effort that effectively took the game beyond Durham's batsmen.

His improvisation was almost as impressive as that displayed by Kevin Pietersen at Riverside last month - a boundary off the final ball of the innings saw van Jaarsveld chip the ball directly over wicketkeeper Mustard's head while he was down on one knee - but the majority of his scoring strokes were classical shots that made the most of a helpful wicket.

Unfortunately, for the home side, they were also assisted by some wretched Durham bowling.

Albie Morkel's final two overs went for 36 - quite why he was brought back ahead of Breese or Collingwood to bowl at the death was a mystery - and Killeen was unable to justify his inclusion ahead of Callum Thorp, arguably Durham's best bowler in the first half of the season.

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