Ottis Gibson’s purple patch
Durham v Worcestershire at Chester-le-Street. 29, 30, 31 August 2007
Worcestershire 182 (GA Hick 64, OD Gibson 7/46) and 390 (BF Smith 60, GA Hick 66, SM Davies 87, GJ Batty 72) Durham 297 (MJ Di Venuto 50, S Chanderpaul 54, GJ Muchall 66, LE Plunkett 50*, GJ Batty 6/106) and 279-5 (DM Benkenstein 68, GJ Muchall 64*)
Durham won by five wickets
Durham 19 points, Worcestershire 3 points
Dale Benkenstein chose to field first after winning the toss. The logic was that the Riverside pitches had recently shown a tendency to flatten out and become easier to bat on. In Ottis Gibson he had just the man to exploit the conditions. The West Indian fast bowler was in the form of his life and would finish the season with a new Durham record of 80 Championship wickets. This was his final season as a player, and the Professional Cricketers’ Association chose Gibson as their Player of the Season.
His seven wickets ensured that Durham were batting before the tea interval. The only prolonged resistance from Worcestershire came in a run a ball 64 from Graeme Hick. By the close of play, Durham had a lead of 19 but they had already lost seven wickets with Gareth Batty demonstrating that the pitch also offered something to the spinners. Fortunately for Durham, Liam Plunkett made an unbeaten half-century and with Paul Wiseman contributing 34 to a ninth-wicket partnership of 75 the Durham lead extended to 115.
A double-wicket maiden for Wiseman meant that the visitors slipped to 41 for 3 but then the pitch did indeed flatten out, as predicted. At one stage, Ben Smith and Hick added 97 in just 16 overs. Four Worcestershire batsmen passed fifty, including Batty whose big hitting brought him 45 in 30 minutes on the third morning. Gibson took a further four wickets to finish the match with eleven for 150.
Needing 276 with plenty of time available, Durham had a scare when Abdul Razzaq got a ball to lift sharply, and all Shivnarine Chanderpaul could do was fend it off to slip. At 125 for four, there were nerves around the ground. These were quelled by the dependable Benkenstein and Gordon Muchall with his second half-century of the match. There were eleven scores in the match of over 50 but nobody went on to make a century.
Having recently won the Friends Provident Trophy this was turning out to be an excellent season. This victory maintained the challenge for the Championship only for it to be set back by a two-day defeat by Lancashire on a cracked pitch at Blackpool. Ultimately, Durham finished the season runners-up. Their best season so far.