For Durham it was the evening after the night before. Then, they had jubilantly qualified for a first appearance in the Twenty20 Finals. Now, a Pro-40 contest with Somerset provided a massive reality check, with Durham receiving a rare hammering at home.

The most telling blows were inflicted by that master of the broadsword, Marcus Trescothick, who dominated a second-wicket stand of 175 with Justin Langer. From the start, and on the friendliest of pitches, the former England opener feasted off balls from Liam Plunkett and Graham Onions that were frequently too wide and too full.

Plunkett, himself an England bowler, came off after bowling four overs for 38, and Onions was only marginally more economic with five overs for 33. Neither was trusted with any further bowling as Durham searched unavailingly for the brake pedal.

At times, Trescothick seemed to be almost toying with the bowling, angling the ball to third man as a varient on smacking it through the covers. He went to his hundred in 74 balls before a bad call saw him run out for 124.

Paul Collingwood's introduction saw the removal of Langer for 63, followed by two more wickets. But it was Durham's captain, Dale Benkenstein, whose occasional, steady medium pace provided the best example of pragmatic bowling. Somerset, who seemed on course for more than 300 before the second wicket fell at 198, in the 27th over, in the end scrambled to 286 for eight. But it was still a commanding total.

That target almost immediately disappeared from sight when Charl Willoughby took three wickets in his first two overs. The first was Michael Di Venuto, edging one that slanted across him from a good length. Then Collingwood drilled a loose drive straight to mid-off. But the biggest eruption of joy for Somerset came when Willoughby extracted some extra bounce from his first ball to Shivnarine Chanderpaul and the famously rock-like left-hander could only chop the ball onto his leg stump.

The dangerous Phil Mustard drove an enormous straight six, only to carve an innocuous ball to gully, and when the in-form Will Smith fell, followed by Ben Harmison, Durham were down and almost out at 66 for six. Benkenstein and Gareth Breese delayed what seemed the inevitable, adding 87 with conviction, before the captain holed out.

Even then there was the counter-punch of a 27-ball fifty from Plunkett, including successive huge sixes, in an 81-run last- wicket stand with Stephen Harmison that was ended in the penultimate over when Alfonso Thomas brilliantly ran out Plunkett at the non-striker's end after fielding a fierce shot by Harmison off his own bowling.

So in the end, Durham did get something positive from the encounter, three days ahead of their date at Rose Bowl.

Scoreboard

Somerset
M E Trescothick run out 124
C Kieswetter c Plunkett b Onions 8
*J L Langer c Benkenstein b Collingwood 63
P D Trego b Collingwood 19
O A C Banks run out 4
J C Hildreth run out 15
A V Suppiah b Collingwood 23
Z de Bruyn lbw S J Harmison 6
M L Turner not out 9
A C Thomas not out 0
Extras (b 4, w 6, nb 5) 15

Total (8 wkts, 40 overs) 286

C M Willoughby did not bat.

Fall of wickets: 1-23, 2-198, 3-221, 4-225, 5-227, 6-262, 7-275, 8-285.

Bowling: Onions 5-0-33-1; Plunkett 4-0-38-0; S J Harmison 8-0-59-1; B W Harmison 2-0-14-0; Breese 5-0-46-0; Benkenstein 8-0-39-0; Collingwood 8-0-52-3.

Durham
M J Di Venuto c Kieswetter b Willoughby 1
P Mustard c Suppiah b Turner 20
P D Collingwood c De Bruyn b Willoughby 8
S Chanderpaul b Willoughby 0
W R Smith c Langer b Turner 19
*D M Benkenstein c Suppiah b Banks 58
B W Harmison c Kieswetter b Willoughby 5
G R Breese lbw b Thomas 34
L E Plunkett run out 72
G Onions b Banks 5
S J Harmison not out 25
Extras (lb 2, w 11, nb 8) 21

Total (38.1 overs) 268

Fall of wickets: 1-4, 2-16, 3-16, 4-44, 5-54, 6-66, 7-153, 8-158, 9-187.

Bowling: Willoughby 8-0-33-4; Turner 6.1-0-53-2; Trego 7.5-0-55-0; Thomas 7.1-0-49-1; Banks 5-0-43-2; Suppiah 3-0-20-0; De Bruyn 1-0-13-0.

Umpires: B Dudleston and J W Holder.