Those Surrey supporters with no allegiance to West Ham United who turned up at the Oval yesterday must have doubted their team’s chances when they saw the make-up of the Lions’ attack. They need not have worried. Despite Nicky Peng hitting his third successive fifty in the totesport League, Tim Murtagh’s three wickets in six balls at the start and Ian Salisbury’s three in fifteen balls in the middle of the Dynamos innings left the Division Two leaders with no answer to the hosts’ 219-7 off 38 overs; in which James Benning played the starring role.

Both sides suffered early innings collapses, but the visitors’ proved the more costly. They were reduced to 10 for three in the third over by Murtagh, who claimed three for 12 in the corresponding fixture at the Riverside. The 23-year-old’s scalps were New Zealand’s Nathan Astle, former Dynamos skipper Jonathan Lewis and England’s Paul Collingwood. All three were adjudged leg before wicket.

Afterwards Murtagh said: “I thought they were all pretty dead. I thought Astle was out straight away. Lewis’s one jagged back. I haven’t seen the replays, but I thought it was out at the time and was screaming for it. Collingwood’s was a good one. It just swung away a bit at the last moment.”

Peng and Benkenstein then put on 95 in nineteen overs together, but Ian Salisbury's 'three-fer' swung the game firmly in Surrey’s favour, leaving James Benning to follow up his 66 in 84 deliveries with figures of three for 31 as the Durham tail bowed to the inevitable.

Nicky Peng reached his half-century in 57 deliveries. Later in the same over – the 21st – Dale Benkenstein brought up Durham’s hundred with a six over long-on off Benning. But then Benkenstein was caught behind off the leg-spinner and four overs later Peng had his leg stump rocked back as he tried to make room. When Gordon Muchall was stumped for twelve the visitors needed an unlikely 88 off ten with four wickets remaining, though that did not stop Mustard and Noffke hitting Salisbury over long-on for maximums.

Earlier, following the loss of an hour’s play, Surrey had made a faltering start of their own and looked in danger of being skittled out for less than the 86 they managed at Chester-le-Street. But thanks to Benning and Clarke, who shared in a 129-run alliance for the fifth-wicket – a new club record for the fixture – the home side rallied to great effect.

Benning’s first one-day half-century of the season came in the 26th over from 69 balls, immediately after Clarke had taken three fours off the bowling of Astle. Rikki Clarke reached his milestone in the very next over, off 62 balls. But the icing on the cake was Murtagh’s unbeaten 31 in 22 deliveries, which included a four to backward square leg off the last ball of the innings – an off stump full toss.

Murtagh said: “I’d basically seen Clarkey sweep a few over the ‘forty-five’ and thought may be I’ll step across and sweep him. But I didn’t quite have the courage to do that, so I just flicked it and it went. I felt good today. I probably got a bit of confidence from batting at the end and I just carried that on to the bowling.”

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