OTTIS Gibson was one of the last to get to sleep on Monday morning after Durham’s players were forced to drive home from Canterbury on the eve of their crucial Championship clash against Surrey, but thankfully there was no sign of tiredness in his bowling. There appears to have been little sense in asking Durham’s players to drive back to the North-East after their Pro40 league defeat to Kent on Sunday, but there was little alternative either. The cost of a private plane was too much for the club to bear and this game had to begin yesterday as Durham have their Friends Provident Trophy Final on Saturday. Certainly, though, it was hardly ideal preparation, given the fact several Durham players had grabbed only a handful of hours’ sleep before they reported for their team meeting at the Riverside yesterday. It is also safe to assume that when captain Dale Benkenstein won the toss and chose to bat first, it was a call quietly cursed by the batsmen and warmly greeted by the bowlers, who could at least try and get some extra rest in the dressing room. Whether Gibson – who returned to Durham from Canterbury via Leicester – got his head down in the morning session is unknown. But if his batting was as tired looking as the rest of his team-mates, there must have been plenty of caffeine drunk in the dressing room at tea because the fast bowler was in venomous form with the ball. Gibson and Steve Harmison prompted a Surrey collapse which, at one stage, had the visitors on their knees at 42-5. Surrey had recovered slightly by the close as they finished the day on 161-7, but they are still 71 runs short of Durham’s total. And when the country’s leading run scorer, Mark Ramprakash, fell on the last delivery of the day, caught by Benkenstein in the slips to give Liam Plunkett his first wicket, Durham were back in the ascendancy. It was a fightback led by Gibson. The West Indian is still mulling over the offer of a contract extension from Durham as he does not know if he can cope with such an arduous First Class schedule, but surely everyone at the Riverside will be doing their best to persuade him he can. The Barbadian has also expressed a desire to become involved in the coaching of the West Indian Test team, but Durham will hope that yearning can be postponed, at least for another 12 months. Gibson has had a wonderful year, the highlight of which will be the 10 wickets he took in an innings against Hampshire here last month, but he has been a constant threat to opposition batsman all season. His three wickets yesterday evening took him to 49 for the season. His first victim, former England man Mark Butcher, was well caught by Shivnarine Chanderpaul at first slip, before Stewart Walters and Ali Brown were both trapped by straight deliveries as they shuffled across their stumps. Harmison had, though, taken the first wicket of the innings – his 54th scalp of an injury-disrupted campaign – as Jonathan Batty fell to a magnificent diving catch from Phil Mustard. Paul Wiseman also contributed, removing John Benning to break a partnership of 67 between him and Ramprakash. Durham’s effort with the ball was all the more impressive considering their lack of sleep, tiredness which inevitably had an impact on their batsman. Indeed, praise is also due to Michael Di Venuto (56) and Shivnarine Chanderpaul (81), who will also have been drained by his return home to Florida to visit his pregnant wife last week. The overseas pair contributed 137 of Durham’s disappointing total of 232. | 
