Graham Onions, England’s newest fast bowler, is not yet ready to make any assumptions about his new status. “People keep saying I’m going to be in the Ashes team,” he said. “And that’s still a little bit strange and hard for me to grasp.” But perhaps yesterday’s events will have made it easier for him - and the rest of the country - to make that connection.
Onions, who on Saturday had started Hampshire’s nosedive to a first innings 105, took five of six wickets yesterday morning to consign the visiting team to an even lower second innings total, of 96, and an innings defeat - all within a net playing time of just two days.
Hampshire, 52 for four overnight, were swept away in less than an hour as they approached the task with a fatalistic air, especially against Onions - a feature of whose bowling is that he is fast and straight from the outset. In each innings his first over brought a wicket, and yesterday his first over brought another. David Griffiths may have been a night watchman but, said Onions, “it’s nice to get yourself on a roll and in a good rhythm - it sets the tone”.
Griffiths, a left-hander, was beaten and bowled by a length ball that cut into him. James Adams, another left-hander, had his stubborn resistance broken by a similar ball - one that Onions’s wicket-to-wicket delivery enables him to ‘shape back’ effectively. And there were few quicker or better balls than the one that the last man, Imran Tahir, received first up - lifting and leaving him, and which his mesmerised jab edged to the wicketkeeper.
So for Onions it was six for 58 in the innings and nine for 80 in the match. With 35 wickets he easily tops the first-class figures, James Anderson being next on 22 wickets. Durham also jump to the top of the first division, though Nottinghamshire and Lancashire look likely to edge back in front of rain brings draws today.
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Durham will have pleased to have re-programmed themselves to the demands of championship cricket, after an indifferent Twenty20 campaign - something they have not always achieved. Their next challenge will probably be to make do without their latest England fast bowler. But then, they had to do that when Ottis Gibson took 80 wickets in 2007, and then departed to be England bowling coach. Onions was one of those who stepped into the breech, and now others are poised to do likewise.
As for Hampshire, their journey south, which started even before the scheduled lunch time, will have been a thoughtful one. Last year they inflicted rare home and away defeats on the eventual champions, albeit by small margins. This year they were blown away.
Durham: First Innings 311 (W R Smith 80, I D Blackwell 68; Imran Tahir 5 for 85)
Hampshire: First Innings 105 (S J Harmison 4 for 43)
Second Innings
M A Carberry lbw b Onions 0
J H K Adams b Onions 11
J P Crawley c Smith b S J Harmison 5
M J Lumb c Mustard b S J Harmison 32
J A Tomlinson b Thorp 1
D A Griffiths b Onions 2
S M Ervine c Claydon b Thorp 22
*†N Pothas lbw b Onions 8
L A Dawson not out 6
D G Cork c Di Venuto b Onions 6
Imran Tahir c Mustard b Onions 0
Extras (lb 2, w 1) 3
Total (34.2 overs) 96
Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-13, 3-49, 4-50, 5-53, 6-66, 7-76, 8-86, 9-96.
Bowling: Onions 14.2-2-58-6; S J Harmison 8-4-15-2; Thorp 12-4-21-2.
Umpires: N G B Cook and R K Illingworth.