first seven for 182, and Ryan ten Doeschate and former England all-rounder Alex Tudor were at the crease. Tudor went quickly, as did No. 10 Andre Adams, and Essex required 26 for the last wicket. But ten Doeschate, who had earlier been taken for 25 runs in his only over, now made up for it by hitting eight boundaries as the Dutch-South African recorded a career highest score of 51 not out off 41 balls, taking Essex to the target with three balls and a wicket to spare. His batting partner, Darren Gough, contributed with four runs in the seven-minute last-wicket stand worth 26. (Cricinfo scorecard) County Championship: Durham v Essex (9–11 June) Durham (22pts) beat Essex (3pts) by an innings and 19 runs Durham continued their run of unbeaten matches in the 2005 season by defeating Essex in just three days at Chester-le-Street. Durham batted first, and made a total of 505 in the first innings, with Gordon Muchall and stand-in captain Dale Benkenstein both making centuries and ten batsmen made it into double figures. The Durham bowlers then backed up the batsmen's efforts by seeing off the Essex batsmen in just 55 overs to leave them all out for 106, Ashley Noffke and Mark Davies taking four wickets each. Essex followed on 399 behind, and were 140 for 6 after three wickets from Davies, despite nightwatchman Dale Steyn making 82. However, number nine Andre Adams made 103, James Foster added 78, and Essex made it to 366 for 7 – before Davies grabbed two wickets, and Neil Killeen dismissed Foster to give Durham an innings win despite lacking internationals Paul Collingwood, Steve Harmison and Mike Hussey. They did have New Zealand international Nathan Astle in the side – he contributed with 15 runs and no wicket for 24. (BBC scorecard) National League: Essex v Gloucestershire (17 June) Essex (4pts) beat Gloucestershire (0pts) by 55 runs Andy Flower took the Gloucestershire Gladiators' bowlers for 127 runs in 93 balls at The County Ground in Chelmsford as he and Ronnie Irani paired up for 139 to send Essex Eagles to a final score of 271 for 7. Upul Chandana got the most expensive figures, with 64 runs off nine overs, but James Averis also conceded six an over – and unlike Chandana, he did not take a wicket. In reply, Alex Tudor snared out a couple of wickets in the