the Championship, Durham's streak of successive wins was finally broken, in what BBC described as a "thrilling draw", as England required fast bowler Steve Harmison to be rested. They bowled first, and had Yorkshire in positions of 124 for 7 and 179 for 9. However, Richard Dawson and Deon Kruis made 75 for the last wicket to take Yorkshire to a total of 254. In reply, Durham trailed by 108 with four wickets in hand, but a seventh-wicket stand worth 126 between Gareth Breese and Philip Mustard lifted Durham to 316. With a 62-run deficit on first innings, Yorkshire lost their first seven wickets for 128 runs, but Anthony McGrath hit 133 not out - his second century of the season thus far, following his 165 not out against Leicestershire a week earlier. He was supported by Chris Silverwood, who hit 80 off 66 balls before eventually being bowled by Michael Lewis, who removed the five last batsmen to end with figures of five for 80. The last three partnerships added 180, and Durham were set 245 to win in well over a day. They started sedately, as Michael Hussey (23 not out) and Jon Lewis (18 not out) took them to stumps on day three without losing a wicket, and cut 53 off the winning target. The fourth-day chase was intervened by rain, bad light and Yorkshire's South African bowler Kruis. Gordon Muchall and Hussey took Durham to 132 for 2, but Yorkshire grabbed wickets to get closer to a win. Eventually, the chase was stopped with Durham on 226 for 8, with Dale Benkenstein, their No. 4, hit 28 not out off 78 balls after, as BBC described it, "shut[ting] up shop in the last few overs" . (Cricinfo scorecard) MCC University Match: Durham UCCE v Durham (25–27 May) Match drawn Durham had made five changes from the Championship game with Yorkshire which ended two days earlier, and the match with the local students ended in a draw, with Durham lacking one wicket and the students 47 runs for a win. The county side made 277 on the first day after David Balcombe took five for 112, and in reply, the students made 228 for 9 declared, after two bursts of wickets from New Zealand international Nathan Astle. Astle took three for 20, the best bowling figures, making up for his 11 with the bat in the first