LV County Championship Division One (day 1 of 4):
At New Road. Durham 313 (Di Venuto 155) v Worcestershire 110-5.

For those lovers of English cricket outraged that there should be a 'World Cup' still going on at the start of a new County Championship season, this was a day to soothe furrowed brows.

Thanks to the lamentable efforts of Duncan Fletcher's men out in the Caribbean, at least it can be said that, as far as England were concerned, the two did not clash.

Our brave heroes sneaked in their World Cup exit with just hours to spare before the first ball of the 2007 Championship summer was bowled. And one suggestion from beyond the New Road ropes yesterday was that they should have all have been put on the first plane home, be made to do four-day duty for their counties and re-educated in how the game should be played.

Sadly, as far as the art of batsmanship is concerned, the only man who did that here yesterday was, it almost goes without saying, an Australian.

Durham debutant Michael Di Venuto proved a cut above the rest, the Tasmanian devil carrying his bat for an unbeaten 155, almost half his side's total.

Admittedly, it came on a New Road wicket still under water just five weeks ago, which offered some assistance to the bowlers. But, even though Worcestershire faltered at the end of a long sun-kissed day, it was still the quality of the strokeplay rather than the quality of the track that caused 15 wickets to tumble.

In any case, thanks to yet another change of legislation designed to avoid the automatic use of the words 'pitch inspector' in any journalist's match report when 15 wickets fall in a day, that it is no longer the all important guideline.

Instead, it is now simply down to the umpires' discretion and neither Graham Burgess nor Barrie Leadbeater will be on the phone to Lord's, other than to suggest official congratulations should be sent to groundsman Tim Packwood for performing miracles.

The fact that the strip they had chosen was so far across the other side of the square they might just as well have carried on up the A449 and pitched the stumps at Chester Road, Kidderminster (as was briefly the pre-season emergency plan) was immaterial.

It was still a good first day's entertainment for an appreciative decent-sized crowd to enjoy in the unseasonally warm April sunshine.

Di Venuto, who hit two half centuries on his last visit here for Derbyshire 11 months ago and was run out on 99 against Worcestershire at Chesterfield last July, was the star, hitting a round century in boundaries (25 of them in his 227-ball knock). But the man least surprised was Worcestershire new boy Doug Bollinger.

They were also on opposing sides in their last first-class match, the Pura Cup final in Australia between Tasmania and New South Wales last month. And Bollinger admitted: "He's a class act. He didn't get many against us in the final and I did get him in a game earlier in the season, but he got 180-odd in the semi and he's a top player. The way he just picked off our bad balls, he made it look easy."

Di Venuto swatted Bollinger's second ball in English cricket to the legside boundary, and was then beaten by the third. But, thanks to partnerships of 66 with Phil Mustard, 46 with Ottis Gibson and 43 with last man Steve Harmison (second top scorer with 30 in 23 balls), he saw Durham through to a late tea.

Bollinger recovered to take three wickets by the end of the day, as did off-spinner Gareth Batty.

Then came a bright 46 from Stephen Moore in response. But two contentious late lbw decisions against skipper Vikram Solanki, looking to turn on the leg side, and Kabir Ali, who appeared to get some bat on an attempted yorker, turned an indifferent start into a bad one.

The ageless Graeme Hick and youngster Steven Davies, missed at third slip in the day's final over, start at the crease this morning. But there is plenty of work to be done.