Ervine and Dawson give Hants hope

7:33pm Thursday 28th August 2008

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DAY TWO: Hampshire are 108-5 (Ervine 26*, Dawson 13*), needing 240 to win

An umpire who goes by the name of 'Trigger' did Hampshire's survival chances no good at all on another eventful day at Basingstoke.

Retired police officer Steve Garratt is one of a handful of first-class umpires not to have played first-class cricket and is in his first full year on the county circuit.

His inexperience showed when he made two dubious decisions to make Hampshire's already difficult pursuit of 240 near impossible in the context of such a low-scoring match.

The 55-year-old revealed his nickname of 'Trigger' in this year's Cricketers' Who's Who and he lived up to the moniker in style at May's Bounty when left-handers Jimmy Adams and Michael Lumb were both shot out by controversial lbw decisions in the space of three Callum Thorp overs.

After bowling Hampshire out for 96 - the county's lowest Championship total for eight years and their worst at Basingstoke since 1936 -Durham made 179 in their second innings to ensure the home side would need 240 to win.

Following Mark Davies' outstanding first-innings performance (his 8-24 is the best analysis in the County Championship since Ottis Gibson, his former teammate, took all ten for Durham against Hampshire at the Riverside last year) that looked a near-impossible task.

But it was the umpiring more than the bowling or the quality of the pitch that provided Hampshire with most concern during the final innings of the match.

Adams being given out, despite getting a decent stride in, was one thing. But Lumb was understandably furious when Garratt raised his index finger.

The in-form left-hander was even further forward than Adams and the ball struck him above the knee roll, yet Garratt did not hesitate.

It was fine bowling that decimated Hampshire's first innings and Davies did not take long to complete it after Liam Dawson and David Balcombe resumed the second day on 65-6.

Dawson and Balcombe both failed to trouble the scorers and Davies did not concede a run in taking three of the final four Hampshire wickets to finish with a career-best 8-24.

His economy was helped by Dimitri Mascarenhas's determination to farm the strike during a last-wicket stand of 21 with James Tomlinson (1*).

Mascarenhas thumped a captain's innings of 26 from just 24 balls before he was beaten by a clever Davies slower ball.

Tomlinson had supported him well and continued his fine season by taking 5-51, a haul that began with his 100th first-class wicket for Hampshire when Michael Di Venuto, Durham's leading run scorer this year, was trapped lbw for a pair.

The left-armer finished with his second-best return of the season, which also included the important scalp of Will Smith (20), the only player in this match to have scored a half-century.

Tomlinson was at his best after returning in the first hour after lunch as Durham lost five wickets for 35 runs in the opening 17 overs of the middle session.

After Imran Tahir dismissed Durham captain Dale Benkenstein with a sharp return catch, Tomlinson was a little fortunate when Phil Mustard cut a short ball straight to the reliable Jimmy Adams at cover in his first over back.

But he produced a beauty that swung and then seamed to have Shivnarine Chanderpaul (38), the West Indies left-hander, caught by Lumb at first slip.

Thorp also edged to Lumb, after Adams held on to a bat-pad catch to give Tahir the wicket of Plunkett, to complete Durham's collapse from 81-3 to 116-8.

But former Winchester all-rounder Paul Wiseman (29) and Graham Onions (28) produced a ninth-wicket stand of 47, Durham's biggest of the match, to swing the contest firmly in favour of the title favourites.

Ervine put down Wiseman at second slip when the right-hander was still in single figures and it proved to be a costly drop.

Onions eventually holed out by top edging a slog-sweep to wide long-on, where Chris Benham kept his composure on the run from the boundary.

When Wiseman was trapped lbw by Tahir, the lead was 239.

Hampshire chased 380 to win a Championship match against Derbyshire at Basingstoke in 1985 but this task looks beyond them.

Garratt's decisions did not help and between those two errors of judgement, Michael Carberry (15) was given out by Rob Bailey, who consulted with his assistant before deciding that a claimed catch by Phil Mustard had carried.

After a fluent 16 from Chris Benham ended when he edged a leg-cutter from Thorp, Nic Pothas (14) was caught by a diving Liam Plunkett at mid-off just when he had seen off Davies.

At 77-5, a two-day finish looked likely but at least Ervine and Dawson dug in.

Four days after their match-winning partnership at Lord's, they gave Hampshire hope by putting on 31 without looking in any trouble during the 12 overs that remained.

If they can get the 132 runs needed for what would be a sensatonal win, Hampshire will have the momentum to stay up.

But with second-from-bottom Yorkshire on course to beat Kent at Scarborough, defeat would make first-division survival a very difficult task.