at Southend-on-Sea, and they followed that up with a loss to Bangladesh A and a draw with Leicestershire for a three-match winless streak. It was broken on 16 August, however, as Durham beat Leicestershire in the National League to go second in the table, two points behind Sussex Sharks. The Sharks lost on 21 August, and Durham had the chance to take the lead, but they lost to Somerset Sabres at Taunton to fall down to third again. A Championship draw with Yorkshire followed - where a total of 16 wickets fell - to leave Durham six points ahead of second-placed Lancashire at the end of the month, but the Lancastrians had a game in hand. August ended with a win over Scottish Saltires, though, and Durham were second in the National League - ten points behind the Sharks, but with two games in hand. County Championship: Essex v Durham (3–6 August) Essex (18pts) beat Durham (3pts) by two wickets Durham won the toss at Southend-on-Sea, and their first innings lasted two sessions for 196, New Zealander Andre Adams taking five for 60 while Danish Kaneria took three for 30 for Essex. Essex also lost five wickets on the first day, to trail by 89, and as Tony Palladino and James Middlebrook were dismissed in quick succession Durham were 62 behind with three wickets in hand, with Australian Michael Lewis having taken four for 69. However, opener Alastair Cook was still there, and he was eventually last out after batting for four and a half hours, crafting 107 as Essex made it to 245 and a lead of 49. Adams dug out both openers when Durham returned to bat, but four partnerships of more than 40 - the highest between Dale Benkenstein and Gareth Breese, who added 92 - saw Durham to a first-innings total of 347, as captain Benkenstein top-scored with 124. Essex needed 299 to win, and had four sessions to do it. They lost Ravinder Bopara after 12 minutes, caught off Liam Plunkett, but Andy Flower and Alastair Cook forged a 72-run partnership before Durham medium-pacer Mark Davies struck and had Cook caught behind. At stumps on day three, Essex were 129 for 2. Lewis and Gareth Breese did a lot of bowling for Durham on the fourth day, totalling 65.1 of Durham's total of 100.1 overs, and after Ronnie Irani departed for 48, Durham limited the