Middlesex had been put in after losing the toss, and the decision was justified with the loss of Hutton and Strauss (for a duck) early on. The batsmen found it hard to put their foot on the accelerator in the opening part of the innings, with just 58 runs coming from the opening 20 overs. The lease of life that the innings needed came from a 96 run partnership between Jamie Dalrymple and Ed Joyce who both scored half centuries. A score of 191-6 was respectable, but nothing special.

Durham then suffered an early blow when Melvyn Betts struck against his former county, but this would be the only early joy that the ‘sex had. Durham’s mid order batsmen were unable to consolidate though and a collapse occurred in which four wickets fell for 16 runs. However, Breese had the last say, his half century being the key point in changing the course of the game. Let’s hope he is the only West Indian that will be hitting the winning runs against English opposition over the next couple of months.

Please click here for the scorecard to this match

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