What is it about Durham and Twenty20? Last year they went into the competition as promotion favourites on the back of five Championship wins. The second half of the season yielded only a single win as they staggered over the finishing line. The pattern was repeated this year. There was little talk of relegation after three wins in the first eight games but again they went into free fall, with one win and four defeats after Twenty20. They escaped the drop by half a point â.. thanks to a gutsy rearguard action in a rain-affected draw with Yorkshire and Nottsâ.. ineptitude against Sussex. But they returned to the second division of the one-day league despite beating champions Essex on the last day. Durham can ill afford to lose three players â.. Steve Harmison, Paul Collingwood and Liam Plunkett â.. to England, with the possibility of a fourth in Graham Onions. But the bottom line is that, apart from the captain Dale Benkenstein, the batting was patchy and the bowling (not helped by injuries to pacemen Ottis Gibson and Mark Davies) no better.

Andrew Collomosse The Wisden Cricketer