Nottinghamshire just about hold the upper hand as their LV= County Championship match against Durham heads towards an intriguing third day at Chester-le-Street.

Eighteen wickets fell on the second day as Durham’s first innings ended on 163 with the bowling honours shared between Vernon Philander (3-27), Brett Hutton (3-44) and Luke Wood (3-58), who each took three wickets.

Second time around, Notts were bowled out for 178, with James Taylor making 45 and Riki Wessels ending on 42 not out. Mark Wood took 4 of the wickets and there were 3 for Paul Collingwood.

Chasing 261 for the win, the home county had reached 15 for one at stumps.

Despite the extraordinary nature of the day, Mick Newell said he wasn’t surprised by how the match has gone.

“It’s been a difficult two days for the batters,” he said. “But we knew what to expect before we came up here, so nothing has surprised me about that.”

The director of cricket admits it’s all going to be about maintaining disciplines as Durham seek to chase down the highest score of the match.

“If we bowl well we’ll be competitive tomorrow. I don’t think the wicket is suddenly going to become flat but the key is to continually put the ball in the right area and we’ve done it so far in this match.

“If we continue to do that then hopefully we’ll come out on the right end of it tomorrow.”

“It's very encouraging to see young lads making a major contribution,” Newell continued. “They deserved to play and have not let us down in any way.

“If Durham knock off the runs it will be the highest score of the game. We have to make it tough for them by bowling up to the standards they showed today.”

Resuming from their overnight position of 69 for three, 176 behind Nottinghamshire’s first innings score of 245, the hosts prospered in blustery conditions with both Michael Richardson and Scott Borthwick making the most of a number of play and misses in adding 41 together.

After an hour of play Notts made their first inroads, in spectacular fashion. Within the space of 9 deliveries they claimed three wickets without the score moving from 110.

Philander trapped Richardson lbw for 19, with a ball that jagged back and kept a touch low. Luke Wood’s celebration was a joy to behold as Borthwick hit the left-armer straight to James Taylor at point for 18 and then Philander had Callum MacLeod caught behind for 0.

Collingwood survived a scratchy start, which included a confident lbw appeal from practically all the Notts side, from Wood’s bowling. Phil Mustard, meanwhile, was enjoying himself at the other end, caressing three elegant boundaries.

Hutton’s return to the attack broke the stand, with Mustard being the seventh player to fall lbw in the match, having made 17.

Notts wasted little time in polishing off the three wickets they needed after lunch. In an eventful over Luke Wood was hit for 7 runs but then had Collingwood caught at slip by Brendan Taylor for 14.

Philander had John Hastings trapped in front for 15 and Wood closed the proceedings by sending two of Graham Onions’ stumps dancing spectacularly out of the ground.

Beginning again in early afternoon, with a lead of 82, Notts soon lost Brendan Taylor lbw to Onions for 4. 

Steven Mullaney got his innings off to an explosive start but after making 33 from 35 balls he clipped a leg side delivery from Chris Rushworth through to Mustard.

Alex Hales and James Taylor added 43 together before Rushworth bowled Hales with a beauty for 16. Samit Patel went without scoring, hooking Mark Wood into the hands of long leg.

Taylor monopolised the strike and the scoring during the remainder of the afternoon and succeeded in actually losing the ball, under a stand, necessitating tea being taken two deliveries early whilst it was retrieved.

Mark Wood was back amongst the wickets when play restarted, having Taylor caught behind for 45, before demolishing Read’s stumps for 9. When Hutton chopped the same bowler onto his stumps for 1, the lead was only just over 200.

Wessels though, nursing a bruised thumb from his first innings heroics, held firm in scoring an unbeaten 42 but he lost his last 3 partners to a devastating burst from Collingwood, who took three for 7 by removing Philander and Luke Wood to lbw decisions and Harry Gurney to a catch at the wicket.

Mark Stoneman, for the second evening running, surrendered his wicket to another lbw decision, when not playing a shot at Philander. The hosts will begin the third day with a further 246 needed for victory.

 

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