Nottinghamshire Director of Cricket Mick Newell admitted he was a relieved man after three injury scares to his pace attack during the drawn first-class fixture at Durham UCCE.

Notts 183 (Gallian 73)
Durham UCCE 142 (Harris 4-69)
Notts 341-5 declared (Patel 73, Read 65, Wagh 51)
Durham UCCE 294-9 (Shreck 4-37, Patel 4-68)

Match drawn

To view the scorecard click here.

Mark Ealham, AJ Harris and Charlie Shreck all pulled out of the bowling on the final day as a precaution against niggles suffered in Durham UCCE's first innings.

But only Harris is expected to miss the opening LV County Championship meeting with neighbours Leicestershire, as his foot injury is more serious than his team-mates.

Said Newell: "Touch wood, I expect everyone to be available apart from Harris. Ealham and Shreck only had minor niggles and losing two of our pace bowlers in the first match of the season would have been far from ideal. There was no point in risking them in a match like this."

Shreck did eventually bowl 13 overs in two spells late on the final day as the students pressed for the win, and took 4-37 without quite finishing them off.

The match had begun with Notts skipper David Hussey winning the toss and choosing to bat, with Jason Gallian and Bilal Shafayat producing an opening partnership of 92 before Bilal was caught behind.

His wicket triggered a collapse that saw 10 wickets fall for 93 runs, with Gallian top-scoring with 73.

Things proved no easier for the students, who were rolled over for 142 with Harris claiming four victims before hurting his foot.

Our batting order was switched in the second innings to give all the batsmen time in the middle before a final day declaration.

With Harris, Shreck and Ealham not being risked, Ryan Sidebottom found himself sharing the new ball with Bilal, while Gallian unveiled his gentle medium-pacers and snared opener James Wood - his first wicket since May 2003.

As the match drifted towards what seemed like an inevitable draw, Chris Read swapped his gloves with Bilal to bowl three overs.

But when Durham decided to chase their victory target in the final session, Shreck came back into the attack but was unable to claim the final wicket.

Newell added: "The pitch was doing a little bit on the first day and got easier as the game went on. I wasn't too happy with our first innings performance, which saw a few poor shots as well as nicks to the slips.

"But in the second innings everyone got some runs which meant that the whole of the top eight had plenty of time in the middle.

"We thought the game was going to finish early until Durham decided to give it a go. We applied a bit more pressure with Shreck and then pushed for the win ourselves.

"Victory is always good for confidence but all-in-all the match was a pretty good workout for Leicestershire on Wednesday."