Date-stamped : 22 Jun97 - 14:20 By Tim Wellock at Darlington First day of four: Durham 215-7 v Kent JON LEWIS confirmed that he has grown into the demanding role he was handed by Durham as he skilfully repelled Kent`s admirable ef- forts to steal a march on their title rivals. With rain always likely, the leaders were anxious to press on after reducing Durham to 127 for seven, but in completing his first championship century for his new county Lewis shared an un- bro- ken stand of 88 with James Boiling. Asked to open following his move from Essex, Lewis began with 210 not out against Oxford University but showed some frailties before making 89 against Sussex two weeks ago. This was altogeth- er a superi- or effort as he withstood some probing bowling, notably from Dean Headley. Making his first championship appearance for a month following a back strain, Headley extracted life from a pitch previously known for its corpse-like qualities and was desperately unlucky to take only one wicket. A welcome reflection of Kent`s disciplined approach was the fact that the first extras they conceded were two leg byes in the 96th over and the only slight blemishes were a couple of shies which would have resulted in run-outs had they hit the stumps. The second, following a fine stop at cover by Matthew Fleming, almost cut down Lewis on 74, otherwise it was an almost flawless six- hour vigil, handsomely decorated by 15 fours. He found the cover boundary off front and back foot, played neatly off his legs and summoned the confidence to late-cut leg- spinner Paul Strang, who began Durham`s slide from 57 for one with two wickets in two balls. John Morris was caught off bat and boot at silly mid-off then Nick Speak attempted an ambitious sweep and was bowled round his legs. When David Boon edged Martin McCague to second slip in the next over he must have regretted batting first after winning the toss for only the second time in seven championship games. However, with Boiling either middling the ball or missing it after a seven-over break for rain, Kent endured a frustrating final hour during which Fleming got past Lewis`s outside edge then almost had him caught off a leading edge at mid-off on 123. Source :: The Electronic Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/) By Tim Wellock at Darlington Second day of four: Kent (138-4) trail Durham (251) by 113 runs JUST as Matthew Fleming was setting out his stall to match the monumental effort of Jon Lewis, the day`s second stoppage brought further frustrations for Kent with 46 overs lost to rain. Lewis became the second Durham player to carry his bat through a first-class innings and Fleming underlined his value to the cham- pionship leaders by completing his second five-wicket haul of the season and laying a platform for recovery from 77 for four. Fleming was unimpressed by a suggestion that he might have to make way for Ed Smith, the Cambridge University batsman who is top of the national averages, and he suppressed his cavalier in- stincts to make 29 not out off 79 balls. A few more overs would doubtless have seen him pass his high- est championship score of the season, 33 against Warwickshire, and become the second-highest score in the match after Lewis`s 158 not out. Wayne Larkins made the identical score when he carried his bat for Durham against Gloucestershire at Gateshead Fell in 1994. As Lewis made his runs out of 251, compared with 305, his might be seen as an even more valuable contribution and it lifted his first-class average for his new country to 64.6. He survived for 10 minutes short of seven hours and stretched his eighth-wicket stand with James Boiling to 110 before Flem- ing removed Boiling`s off-stump in his first over of the day. He quickly dispatched Simon Brown and Alan Walker to finish with five for 55, then the wayward Brown launched Kent`s reply with a wide and no-ball and by the close Durham had conceded 34 extras. Melvyn Betts took the first two wickets in his liveliest spell of the season, while David Fulton moved confidently to 31 be- fore driving at Mike Foster`s third ball and losing his off- stump. Source :: The Electronic Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/) Speight bats best after Betts bowls Kent over By Tim Wellock at Darlington Third day of four: Durham (251 & 183-8 ) lead Kent (167) by 267 runs ON A day when the balance of power shifted to and fro, Kent`s tenure as championship leaders looked increasingly fragile during Durham`s second damaging eighth-wicket stand of the match. A handful of players are having an excellent game, among them Martin Speight, who followed his five catches behind the stumps with his highest score for his new county after Durham had all but squandered the advantage gained by Melvyn Betts`s superb bowling. High-speed away swing saw Betts, 22, take five for five in six overs in the morning to give him career-best figures of seven for 29 and secure a lead of 84. But Durham then subsided from 52 for one to 77 for seven before Speight put on 92 with the obdurate James Boiling. Speight went on to make 73 not out, surviving for 50 overs af- ter 13 wickets fell in the day`s first 41 overs on an utterly blame- less pitch. The batsmen`s troubles were either air-borne or of their own making as the swing bowlers did the bulk of the damage, Matthew Fleming completing a first nine-wicket match haul of his career. He also made his best score of the season, 43 not out, as Kent slumped from their overnight 138 for four to 167 all out to give Durham a tantalising whiff of their first championship win for 24 matches. Betts, whose previous best was the six for 51 he took against Oxford at the start of the season, missed four games through in- jury and had only four championship wickets this year before this match. Bowling a full enough length to draw the batsmen forward, he swung one through left-hander Nigel Llong`s defences, then found the edge of the bat to snare his remaining victims, Speight diving to his right to take a stunning one-hander to re- move Ben Phillips. Betts gave much of the credit to bowling coach Geoff Arnold, who only last Sunday at Fenner`s included Betts in his observa- tion that Durham had been guilty of some of the worst new-ball bowling he had seen for a long time. The problem was not entirely resolved as Simon Brown sent down three wides and five no-balls in taking one for 85, but Betts en- sured that the 41 extras were only a minor irritation. Fleming rattled John Morris`s off stump with a leg-cutter to begin Durham`s second innings slide, then had Nick Speak and Jon Lewis caught at slip before bowling Betts, who shouldered arms. Paul Strang`s top-spinner accounted for David Boon, but Speight swept the leg-spinner in front of square for six and al- so took 12 off an over when Martyn McCague bent his back with- out reward. Rain finally arrived at 5.35, taking a further 16 overs out of an absorbing contest. Source :: The Electronic Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/) Durham savour a rare victory By Tim Wellock at Darlington Durham beat Kent by 135 runs THE Durham Bs buzzed far too busily for Kent yesterday as Brown, Betts, Boiling and even Boon took the wickets which con- demned the visitors to a 135-run defeat and knocked them off the top of the table. It was Durham`s first championship win for 24 matches, dating back to the last game of 1995, and it came despite David Boon, their Australian captain, scoring only one run in the match. He did, however, take his first wickets in England when, with bad light threatening, he twice introduced his own off-spin and had the opposing skipper Steve Marsh caught at slip before tak- ing the last wicket with 5.3 overs remaining. The weather had threatened to deny Durham the chance to end their drought and with dark clouds again hovering Boon was obliged to return to the attack. Martin McCague and Dean Headley had survived for five overs when McCague was caught off bat and pad at silly mid-off by John Morris, prompting jubilation among fans who have witnessed enthralling finishes in each of the last three home games. Simon Brown and Melvyn Betts had reduced Kent to 41 for five. Bowling unchanged for 15 overs before tea, Brown took three of the wickets through edged catches, but even when Alan Wells gave wicket- keeper Martin Speight his seventh catch of the match, Paul Strang ap- peared to believe victory was still possi- ble. He dominated a stand of 52 with Matthew Fleming, whose exit to a bat-pad catch off James Boil- ing ought to have signalled the raising of the shutters. Strang, however, went down the pitch to Boiling and was bowled for 47, then Boon removed Marsh and Brown then returned to bowl Ben Phillips to finish with four for 57. Source :: The Electronic Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/) Contributed by The Management (help@cricinfo.com)