The umpire, Nigel Plews, then raised his finger to add the insult of dismissal to his injury.Betts stayed in the pavilion when Kent batted and was missed more than Fulton, even though Brown sent back both openers in successive overs. Fulton had arrived at the ground looking a whiter shade of pale and then Melvyn Betts suffered a suspected broken foot after being struck by Martin McCague. At lunch, the home team had been 16 for two with David Fulton unable to open because of tonsilitis. The most valuable player to have had at the Mote would have been Dr Julian Thompson – in his professional capacity.

Kent, requiring a victory to top the table, lost their last eight wickets for 74, setting a target of 339 – formidable for a side of Durham’s modest batting strength, but not impossible.
So an intriguing game continued to oscillate. They have not succeeded in the Championship since, but stayed gamely in contention here despite running into Carl Hooper at his awesome best. He had to watch Shahid Nazir share the spoils with his captain, but his day will come.Pakistan’s reply began with a blaze of boundaries from Saeed Anwar – three fours and a six in Neil Mallender’s first two overs. But a change of bowling undid him and he became a first-ball victim for John Hughes, the day’s eighth leg before dismissal. If his 20 was something of a humbling for someone who began this tour with a double- century, a century and a half century, it has given Pakistan’s other batsmen the opportunity to show their class..

Last season Durham won their final match to avoid the wooden spoon and ensure that unwanted title went to Kent instead. And the openers, Fordham in particular, always looked fallible. The alternative Akram, reckoned by Imran Khan to be as fast as Waqar Younis, certainly bowled at a sharp pace and beat the bat on numerous occasions. It was the culmination of a 20-over stint unbroken only by the lengthy break for rain soon after play began.

With two matches against Lancashire this week, in the NatWest on Wednesday and the Benson & Hedges Cup Final on Saturday, Northamptonshire will be thankful that he cannot play for his county.
Batting was never easy against the early pace of the unrelating Akrams, Wasim and Mohammad, but when Wasim began to swing the ball late it looked nigh impossible. Five times Wasim hit the pads to umpire Willey’s satisfaction, and in all seven dismissals were leg before, a serious indictment of batting technique.Until the so-called wise men at Lord’s are prepared to accept the apparently unacceptable reason why English batsmen can no longer use their feet – they don’t need to on covered wickets – not all the working parties in Christendom will sort out the English game.In 27 overs Northamptonshire lost all 10 wickets for 63 runs, and without the first wicket contribution of 89 from Richard Montgomerie and Alan Fordham their score card makes sorry reading. Not that the Northamptonshire batsmen helped themselves with the kind of footwork you’d never see from Fred Astaire in diving boots. They also have Wasim Akram, their captain, who yesterday fired a warning shot at England with a mid-afternoon spell that brought five wickets in 40 balls at a cost of 14 runs. In the case of Pakistan, mind you, they don’t just have class. Square-cutting Ashley Cowan for four, he overtook his previous best, 73, made against Lancashire this season.On 97, Peter Such, his former team-mate, supplied a leg-side long hop which Millns ecstatically whipped away for his 13th boundary – and the 12th first-class century for Leicestershire this summer.. These are good times to be watching cricket in the Hamptons.