AN IRON law of domestic cricket over the past ten months seems to be that, when Mal Loye meets Durham, the bowlers despair and Lancashire win by a mile. He is about as welcome to Geordies at present as the arrival of Gordon Brown at a Blairite soirée.

Loye followed an astonishing century from 55 balls in the Twenty20 Cup last July with 200 and 114 in his next two championship encounters, and his one-day career-best of 127 yesterday upstaged even Brad Hodge’s first limited-overs hundred for Lancashire and Stephen Harmison’s first bowl in anger since March 13. Harmison, slowly building to something like full pace, claimed a second success with his final ball when Stuart Law fell leg-before to a yorker and was the pick of Durham’s attack. But this was saying little.

On a bad day for his colleagues, four wides and four no-balls had been conceded in the first eight overs and even the superb running catch that Harmison took at deep backward square leg saw him unavoidably carry the ball over the boundary for one of Loye’s three sixes as Lancashire concluded the fifteenth over on 87 without loss. By then, Loye’s fifty had arrived in 41 balls and, though Mark Chilton was bowled off a defensive edge by Harmison soon after, he added 115 in 21 overs with Hodge.

The ever fidgeting and twitching Loye was in one of those moods that periodically makes him unstoppable. Taking a large stride, he swept each of his sixes off the fast-medium pace of Neil Killeen and eventually fell, after 122 balls, trying to cut a near yorker. Hodge, who arrived from Australia ten days ago after the birth of his son, remarked that the flight had provided his first proper sleep in a week. He betrayed little fatigue in reaching 118 until playing on to the final ball of the innings, the 105th he faced.

Durham responded initially as though undaunted by a target of 308 and reached 64 by the twelfth over. Lancashire have supplied England with three fast bowlers in their past two Tests and they may have another in Tom Smith. As second change, Smith removed Jimmy Maher’s off stump and, though the slips then contrived to drop Jon Lewis and Gordon Muchall off successive balls, both they and two more went in the next four overs.

Gareth Breese and Phil Mustard, who was missed off a reverse sweep when eight, hammered 61 for the sixth wicket, but Simon Marshall, a leg spinner, claimed his maiden one-day wickets when, again from consecutive balls, both men fell at long-on. Marshall’s magnificent return catch later undid Harmison for 17.