Date-stamped : 22 Sep97 - 06:21 Whittaker takes Durham to task By Geoffrey Dean at Leicester First day of four: Durham (66-4) trail Leics (241) by 175 runs. LEICESTERSHIRE`S bowlers will tell you that the pitches at Grace Road this season have been a little too good, lacking the pace and bounce of last year`s. This one had both, although move- ment off the seam and particularly in the air were the main factors in the fall of 14 wickets. Durham missed the chance to bowl Leicestershire out cheaply. Simon Brown and Melvyn Betts swung the ball from the start, knocking over the top three. Durham`s profligacy became yet more acute when John Wood kept banging the ball in halfway down the pitch. It proved an ex- pensive ploy, if it was one, for he was repeatedly pulled for four, unlucky though he was to have James Whitaker dropped at long leg when 54. Whitaker, frenziedly feeding on a surfeit of balls both over and under-pitched, rushed to 50 off 39 balls, some of his stroke- play matching the splendor of a glorious autumnal day. Devastating through extra cover, Whitaker (93) had barely checked his scoring rate when Betts yorked him with a slower ball. This ended a richly entertaining fourth wicket stand of 105 in 27 overs with Ben Smith, who immediately spooned another good slower ball to point. Jon Dakin was bowled without moving his feet and Paul Nixon caught behind when leg-glancing. David Millns played some good shots before Brown took the last three wickets in eight balls. Leicestershire`s second string seamers bowled a good deal bet- ter than their counterparts before the light went. The early finish came at exactly the right time for Durham, for whom the extension of their 100 per cent record against Le- icester- shire (six championship defeats out of six) is looking likely. Source :: The Electronic Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/) David Millns grabbed four wickets for Leicestershire as Durham collapsed to 133 all out at Grace Road - then saw his team- mates bat atrociously to struggle to 54 for four in their sec- ond in- nings. Durham seamer Simon Brown did the damage, claiming the wickets of Darren Maddy, Ben Smith and Iain Sut- cliffe. Source :: The Electronic Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/) Millns on target to foil Boon By Geoffrey Dean at Leicester Leics (241 & 219) bt Durham (133 & 310) by 17 runs AFTER six championship defeats against Leicestershire, the last four by an innings, Durham came within a hair`s breadth of beating them in any form of cricket with some brave batting. Set 328 on a pitch which had eased, they reached 232 for three, but at this point, David Boon got out and the bottom-order found the task just beyond them. Boon took his championship total to 981 runs with a particu- larly solid innings, 93 off 173 balls. When Durham resumed at 88 for two, he and John Morris (84 off 101 balls) brilliantly ex- ploited every scoring opportunity to reap 59 in the first half- hour. With Jimmy Ormond forced out of the attack with a groin strain, Jon Dakin and Darren Maddy filled the breach, taking valuable wickets. But it was David Millns who was the match-win- ner, removing Morris with one that straightened and having Boon caught behind off an inside edge. Later, Millns took the last three wickets with the second new ball to finish with a deserved six victims. Source :: The Electronic Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/) Contributed by The Management (help@cricinfo.com)