Onions routs Yorkshire in stunning comeback

Round-Up

England pace bowler Graham Onions may have been out of action for 15 months but it did not take him long to become reacquainted with the joy of taking wickets as Durham put Yorkshire to the sword at Headingley.

On a spectacular comeback following major back surgery, the 28-year-old struck with only his second ball and went on to finish with 5 for 51 as Yorkshire were dismissed for 149 in reply to Durham's 327.

Hungry to make a rapid impact, Onions's appetite was sharpened when Adam Lyth pulled his second delivery straight to square leg. On his first appearance since the third Test against South Africa at Newlands in January 2010, he was no-balled regularly for overstepping during his first spell.

Nonetheless, it was an encouraging start for the 2009 Ashes winner and he was more impressive still when he returned, taking three wickets in the space of 10 balls as Andrew Gale pulled to mid-on, Jonathan Bairstow fell leg-before and opener Joe Root, who had battled manfully to 45, edged to wicketkeeper Michael Richardson.

With his run-up difficulties ironed out, Onions returned for a third spell to complete five wickets in an innings for the 10th time in his career, removing Steve Patterson.

Yorkshire collapsed from 100 for two to 133 for nine in the space of just 23.3 overs; Durham chose not to enforce the follow-on.

At Taunton, Warwickshire continued to make title favourites Somerset toil, turning 416 for six overnight into 642 all out, their highest total against the West Country side, of which the key features were a maiden double hundred from Varun Chopra and a run-a-ball 129 from prospective England all-rounder Chris Woakes.

Ajantha Mendis, the Sri Lankan wrist spinner, improved on a woefully rusty performance on day one but his final analysis of 4 for 183 was the most expensive of his career for a single innings. Woakes then took 3 for 55 as Somerset slipped to 147-6 in reply.

Paceman Steven Finn, whose part in last winter's Ashes success ended when he was left out after three Tests, did his chances of regaining his place no harm by dismissing fellow England players Alastair Cook and Ravi Bopara (twice) at Lord's as Middlesex closed in on victory over Essex, who were just 53 ahead at the close having been bowled out twice.

Independent Comment
blog comments powered by Disqus
Caption competition
Caption competition
News in pictures
World news in pictures
Sport blogs

New day (slowly) rising – As Brasileirão gets underway, Brazilian football stumbles, rather than leaps into the future

The average Serie A crowd last year was 13,000 - comparable to Australia’s A-League.

by James Young

iBet: Mercedes and Hamilton to roar in Monaco

Monaco is a street circuit where driver ability is more important than anywhere else and if we take ...

by Gareth Purnell

On The Road at the Giro d’Italia: It sounds sadistic, but the team live for the mountain stages

Three weeks ago as I drove off the Eurostar, I remember thinking what a very long time it was until ...

by Martin Ayres

       
Career Services

Day In a Page

Andrew Mitchell: 'It's no good feeling hard done by'

Andrew Mitchell: 'It's no good feeling hard done by'

In his first interview since 'plebgate', the former Chief Whip opens up just enough to concede that, in politics, you have to take the rough with the smooth

Johnny Marr talks relationships and reunions

He's worked with Modest Mouse, the Pet Shop Boys and Beck, to name a few, and recently released his first solo album. So why, wonders Johnny Marr, do people still hark on about The Smiths?
Corruption and the FCO: Blue skies, white sands, dark clouds

Corruption and the FCO: Blue skies, white sands, dark clouds

Special report: Met police call for criminal inquiry into former diplomat's Cayman Islands rule
Fallen angel: Winona Ryder on bouncing back from her decade in the wilderness

Fallen angel: Winona Ryder bounces back

She owned the 1990s... but then she disappeared. Now, Ms Ryder is back with quite the bang in her latest role, as the wife of a notorious real-life Mob hitman.
Roman Polanski shakes Cannes Film Festival

Roman Polanski shakes Cannes Film Festival

The director's new film, 'Venus in Fur', is one of the raciest on offer
Rev Richard Coles: 'I don’t have any concerns that God is cross with me for being gay and eventually the Church won’t either'

Rev Richard Coles on the Church and homosexuality

The mellifluous, erudite and witty Coles is the nation's most pop-culture-friendly priest
'Baghdad likes to live from crisis to crisis': Civil war looms in Iraq

Patrick Cockburn: Civil war looms in Iraq

The governor of Kirkuk - one of the country's most violent but successful provinces - fears the worst
Written on the body: Tattooists at pains to point out their artistic credentials

Written on the body

Tattooists at pains to point out their artistic credentials
Conquering Everest: 60 facts about the world's tallest mountain

Conquering Everest: 60 facts about the world's tallest mountain

The IoS marks the sixtieth anniversary of Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay first reaching the peak of the highest mountain on Earth
A new, and irreversible, Dust Bowl looms

Rupert Cornwell: A new, and irreversible, Dust Bowl looms

The destructive power of tornadoes will be as nothing once the Great Plains' vast underground water reserve dries up
Every creature's needless death diminshes us all

Philip Hoare: Every creature's needless death diminishes us all

A 60 per cent decline in our national species should alarm us, yet few of us act. But to mind more about animals would reflect well on society
Killing with kindness: Burma's religious battleground - and the monks at the heart of it

Killing with kindness: Burma's religious battleground

Six years ago, the world cheered the monks behind Burma’s Saffron Revolution. Now, a horrific new eruption of religious slaughter is being blamed on a 'Buddhist Bin Laden'.
Let's take it outside: Bill Granger's Bank Holiday feast

Let's take it outside: Bill Granger's Bank Holiday feast

You can’t always depend on the weather – but you can avoid the pitfalls of the British barbecue by preparing an elaborate outdoor feast indoors ahead of time...
The Calvin report: Stirring Champions League final shows how far English game must advance

The Calvin report

Stirring Champions League final shows how far English game must advance
10 big questions for the British & Irish Lions to answer

10 big questions for the British & Irish Lions to answer

Warren Gatland's squad fly Down Under aiming to do justice to the expectations – and hoping the Wallabies stay in the pub