Nottinghamshire crashed to their second defeat of the LV= County Championship season when they were beaten by 6 wickets by Durham at Trent Bridge.
The home side had batted until tea in making 333, with Michael Lumb making 123 and Graeme Swann 57. Set 183 for victory, from just 23 overs, Durham pulled off an astonishing chase to reach their target with 16 balls to spare.
Mick Newell, Nottinghamshire's Director of Cricket, was understandably disappointed.
"If we could have just hung until tea and used up another two or three overs I think it may have been beyond them to chase that down.” Mick Newell
“In this day and age a run rate of around seven or eight is gettable and they got off to a flyer,” he said. “We were struggling to hold them in check and it’s small details but if we could have just hung until tea and used up another two or three overs I think it may have been beyond them to chase that down.”
Michael Lumb and Luke Fletcher began the morning session knowing that crease occupation was the order of the day and they safely managed to negotiate a further 75 minutes together.
Fletcher was struck a fearsome early blow on the helmet from Mark Wood but recovered to reach 17 before falling to a catch behind off Scott Borthwick.
Chris Read was greeted with a waist-high full toss from the leg-spinner which he pulled ruthlessly through midwicket. his next delivery was driven firmly back to the bowler, who claimed a low catch but neither umpire was interested.
Lumb had an alarm from the same bowler, miscuing just short of Stoneman at midwicket. He then advanced from 94 to 98 from a thickish inside edge off Wood.
The left-hander’s 16th career century – fourth for Notts and fourth against Durham – duly followed in the 62nd over as he punched Wood to the off side boundary.
The lunch-time scoreboard was a nightmare for a superstitious person – 222-6, with Lumb unbeaten on 111.
Durham had the second new ball available just four overs after the resumption but they chose not to take it – with beneficial results.
With pressure building Lumb, on 116, was reprieved when he charged at Borthwick and was missed by Mustard behind the stumps.
After the pair had extended their stand to 50 Durham at last made further inroads. Read (29) edged Borthwick into the waiting hands of Collingwood at slip and then Lumb (123) drilled the ball back to bowler Breese.
Stuart Broad (10) also fell to Borthwick, leaving Graeme Swann and Ajmal Shahzad to try and plunder a few runs for the final wicket.
They hung around for 23 overs together with Swann playing some expansive shots to boost the total, hitting two maximums as he reached his first championship half century in five years.
On three separate occasions Swann had to have treatment, after blows to the instep, forearm and forehead, with the latter delivery requiring a new helmet to be brought out as well.
With nine wickets down tea was delayed by around 25 minutes until, after a stand of 75, Swann was last to depart, lbw to Borthwick.
Needing 183 to win in 23 overs Durham got off to a flying start and Notts were unable to keep the run-rate in check. Mark Stoneman raced to his fifty in just 24 deliveries, the quickest in Durham’s history and then Phil Mustard got there from just 30.
Graeme Swann dismissed them both, and also accounted for Ben Stokes (12) and Dale Benkenstein (9) but the damage had already been done, allowing Gareth Breese (18 not out) to score the winning runs.
The Durham party had suffered a less-than-ideal preparation to the day after being evacuated from their Nottingham hotel during the night after a fire.
Many players were made to wait outside for up to four hours before being re-accommodated elsewhere.
Notts take five points from the match, with Durham heading back north with 22.