Middlesex v Durham: England captain Andrew Strauss dismissed again by Graham Onions If the absurdity of playing championship matches in early and mid-April is going to persist - and there is no justifiable reason why it should - the system for batting bonus points has to be changed. In April a county should get the maximum of five points for reaching 200, not 400, as runs are worth double at this time of year. Banning the heavy roller was designed to encourage spinners as well as seamers but it hasn't happened. This match's first over of spin was the last on day three. A lot of batsmen have forgotten how to leave the ball or play it late, but the odds are still stacked excessively against them. Five wickets fell in the morning at Lord's as Middlesex added 56 to their overnight score. Durham were then dismissed for a lead of 50, as Steve Finn recovered from a slow start to bowl some unplayable snorters. This rapid turnover left time for Andrew Strauss to score six scratchy runs before he was dismissed by Graham Onions. Strauss left his first 15 balls from Onions, then edged a drive to gully - Callum Thorp - who dropped him and let Strauss get off the mark. After Strauss had made a backfoot force off Thorp, Onions bowled the England captain between a gap in bat and pad. One of the few venues where batting was feasible was at Edgbaston, but largely because Lancashire played two spinners. Darren Maddy and Rikki Clarke cashed in with a quick century each in a stand of 224. Three Somerset batsmen hit hundreds at Trent Bridge: Arul Suppiah and the form batsman of this season, Nick Compton, shared a double-century stand, then so did Compton (204* off 323 balls) and James Hildreth. In his first innings of the season for Essex, Ravi Bopara hit his 21st first-class century in a lone stand against Ryan Sidebottom's five for 30. At the Oval, where the ball prevailed again, Stuart Meaker capped Alan Richardson's six for 47 with six for 39, his best first-class figures. Seldom, if ever, have England had such a supply of pace bowlers, although how they shape up in proper cricket weather remains to be seen.