Date-stamped : 27 Jul97 - 10:36 Durham stare at another defeat By David Green at Cheltenham First day of four: Gloucs (253-5) lead Durham (86) by 167 runs DURHAM, whose highest finish in their five seasons of champi- onship cricket is third from bottom, are unlikely to improve this season on the basis of their showing yesterday when they were skittled out for 86. There was no surprise at their decision to bat first, for the pitch was easy-paced with bounce enough to encourage strokeplay. The morning was humid, though, and most people anticipated that the new ball would swing. What was not anticipated was that Durham`s innings would last on- ly 35.2 overs. Five wickets fell to Mark Alleyne`s innocent-look- ing medium pace for 14 runs, Shaun Young took three for nine and Jon Lewis two for 35. Durham`s Jon Lewis was the first to go, lbw pushing half for- ward in Young`s second over. Mike Roseberry, a struggling player these days, sliced the same bowler to gully, Richard Davis taking the first of his three catches. John Morris and Nick Speak then added 40 runs at around four an over, with Morris playing some handsome drives before Alleyne, who can swing the ball both ways, had him taken at gully, again off a slower outswinger. In his next over Alleyne found David Boone`s inside edge as he drove at an inswinger, Jack Russell taking a brilliant one- handed catch low to his left. The departure of their captain seemed to demor- alise Durham completely. When Alleyne, whose pace is well short of nasty, dug one in at Speak, he fended it tamely to short leg. Martin Speight edged Lewis low to first slip and James Boiling walked in front of his stumps. With Durham`s last three wickets falling for a single, Gloucestershire were batting shortly after lunch. Simon Brown soon showed that he, too, could swing the ball, dipping one in to have Tony Wright lbw in his first over. Tim Hancock, trying to turn a short one from John Wood to leg, somehow lobbed the ball vertically towards short extra, the bowler making the catch, and when Monte Lynch was immediately lbw to Brown, they were 28 for three. But Matthew Windows, making his first appearance of the season in the first team and Young shared a century partnership in only 20 overs and later, with Russell playing a canny second fiddle, Alleyne scored a half-century off only 55 balls. Source :: The Electronic Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/) Russell follows Alleyne`s example By David Green at Cheltenham Second day of four; Durham (86 & 3-0) trail Gloucs (471-6 dec) by 382 runs A BRILLIANT 169 from Mark Alleyne and an unbeaten 103 from Jack Russell, who was initially introspective before later warm- ing to his task, propelled Gloucestershire into a virtually im- pregnable position yesterday despite the loss of 49 overs to rain. Alleyne`s declaration followed the completion of Russell`s century and left Durham to face 17 overs in increasingly murky light. Jon Lewis and Mike Roseberry survived 5.4 of them, not without alarms, before a heavy storm washed out play for the day. This was the 13th century of Alleyne`s career and such is his liking for the Cheltenham College ground that six of them have been scored here. His innings was chanceless and he mastered the Durham attack from the first ball. Despite their lack of success, Durham stuck gamely to their task in the field. Their bowlers all took stick at times but kept run- ning in with conviction and though their ground fielding and catching were not faultless, they remained keen right to the end. When Gloucestershire resumed in the morning at 253 for five, Al- leyne and Russell, playing quite cautiously at first, were obvi- ously concerned that their strong grip on the match should not be relaxed, but two powerful back-foot forces emphasised Al- leyne`s domi- nance. He reached his century with a punch past cover off Simon Brown, his 21st four, having faced 135 balls. Russell steadily picked up ones and twos, with occasional boundaries coming either side of cover or past square leg. Alleyne used the late cut to great effect against James Boil- ing`s off-spin but also hit him for a big straight six as a varia- tion. Alleyne`s third 50 came at a brisk rate, off only 59 balls. Russell reached his half century in the same over, off 167 balls with seven fours. At this point both batsmen cut loose, Alleyne hitting four fours in quick succession before slicing the persevering Alan Walker to Roseberry at slip. Alleyne made his runs off 203 balls, his final tally of 31 fours and one six bearing witness both to the excellence of the pitch, the quality of his placements and the pace of the out- field. The sixth-wicket stand was worth 205 to the visitors. Russell, eagerly abetted by Martyn Ball, pressed on vigorous- ly, hitting big sixes over mid-wicket off John Wood and Walk- er. His second 50 occupied only 36 balls and in all he hit 13 fours in addi- tion to his two sixes. Source :: The Electronic Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/) Lewis delays charge By David Green at Cheltenham Third day of four: Durham (86 & 321-7) trail Gloucestershire (471-6 dec) by 64 runs A DISCIPLINED auxiliary action led by John Lewis with a 4.5-hour 81, and David Boon, 66, held up Gloucestershire but wickets fell briskly late on and, weather-permitting, victory should not be long delayed today. Whereas on the first two days the heavy atmosphere had enabled bowlers to swing the ball, Thursday evening storms cleared the air so there was little movement. In addition, the pitch had lost its bounce. Even in such favourable batting conditions, Durham, who began the day still needing 382 runs to make Gloucestershire bat again, re- quired a solid start and this they were given by Lewis and Mike Rose- berry. Indeed, the fastest scoring of the day came before lunch, which was taken at 128 for one, Roseberry being the only casual- ty, hav- ing contributed 45 to a partnership of 92, Durham`s best champi- onship start of the season. Earlier, Roseberry, when 40, had left the crease, believing himself caught off James Averis by Martyn Ball at slip but umpire Chris Balderstone was uncertain that the ball had carried and Rose- berry was recalled, albeit briefly. John Morris played fluently until he sliced the ball to gully, as in the first innings. Lewis finally departed when Ball spun one through his defensive push. Martin Speight, coming in ahead of Nick Speak, who had a stom- ach upset, lent his captain solid support but fellow Tasmanian Shaun Young accounted for Boon with a second new ball, lbw, after 3.25 hours` resistance. Speight`s innings ended when he was caught behind aiming to glance, and Michael Foster was also caught behind aiming to hook. Gloucestershire claimed the extra half-hour, in which Durham lost Alan Walker, caught at short- leg off bat and pad. Source :: The Electronic Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/) Leaders face tough choice over Walsh By Tim Wellock at Cheltenham Gloucestershire (471-6 dec) beat Durham (86 & 357) by an in- nings and 28 runs WHO needs Courtney Walsh? Not Gloucestershire, apparently, as they went to the top of the table with victory by an innings and 28 runs against Durham. Walsh flew back to the West Indies yesterday after three weeks of setting up committees and functions for next season`s testimo- nial, which will go ahead whether or not he plays for the county he has served, international commitments permitting, since 1984. As his 736 first-class wickets at 20.38 for Gloucestershire testify, few overseas players have performed with more enduring dedica- tion. But he will be 35 in October and his wish to re- turn next season may not be granted. Shaun Young, Walsh`s 27-year-old Tasmanian replacement, has scored 632 runs at 39.5 and taken 28 wickets at 26.4 with his brisk medi- um pace and there is a feeling that with a couple of young seamers de- veloping nicely, the overseas all-rounder of- fers more to the balance of the side. "When I went to Tasmania to see Shaun he said he only wanted to come for one year," said Philip August, the county`s cricket se- cre- tary. "But he is enjoying it so much he wants to come back. "It`s a nice problem to have and much will depend on when Courtney would be free from domestic games. I have twice spoken to the West Indies board about their plans and had two different answers. "The views of the captain and senior players will be sought and we would like to make a decision before Shaun goes home at the end of the season." Gloucestershire needed only 41 minutes yesterday to take the last three wickets as Durham were all out for 357. Rain closing in from the hills posed a threat to Gloucestershire`s ambi- tions, but the match ended 10 minutes before heavy rain arrived, as they celebrated 48 points from the festival matches. Their captain, Mark Alleyne, who wrapped up the tail to finish with match figures of nine for 83, believes his side can main- tain their challenge for the championship throughout the final months of the season. "After losing three games everyone was writing us off but that wasn`t the view of the guys in the dressing-room," he said. "We`ve already raised a few eyebrows this season and are very much the sur- prise package. Right now we are playing superbly and have every con- fidence of winning each time we go out." It was Gloucestershire`s fifth win in six games over the last three years at Cheltenham, which remains one of the safest of festi- vals despite matches rarely doing full justice to the splendid set- ting. The quality of the pitch has inspired Alleyne to score six of his 13 first-class centuries on the College Ground, yet without Thursday`s rain this match would have followed the re- cent trend of being over well inside three days. Durham had taken the game into a fourth day but were hanging on in the hope that the weather would rescue them from their second suc- cessive innings defeat. They needed 64 to make Gloucester- shire bat again but added just 36. Durham`s cause was not helped with four players suffering stomach illnesses after visiting a restaurant in Cheltenham the night before. The worst affected was Nick Speak but he went out to bat and faced a total of 58 balls for an unbeaten 31. Alleyne went round the wicket to have John Wood caught at wide mid-off but then reverted to his normal style to have the final bats- man, Simon Brown, caught behind by Jack Russell. Source :: The Electronic Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/) Contributed by The Management (help@cricinfo.com)