v Durham LV= at Chester le Street

Durham are Champions

Day 3 was only delayed by a session by the heavy rain that dissipated into showers and then greyness .


A Durham opening stand of 57 runs saw the hosts to their championship winning victory in spite of a brief wobble by 8 wickets.

Friday: With Surrey setting themselves-up to a contrived defeat against Warwickshire, which condemned the Londoners to relegation to Division 2, this meant that they will be replaced by Lancashire, who today secured enough points for promotion.

Day 2 Durham require another 62 runs to be 2013 County Champions with 10 second wickets standing as they have hopelessly outclassed Notts at The Riverside.

It was probably not a smart movement electing to bat against the potential champions with a 1015 start in the middle of the September on a sporty first day wicket, but it follows a pattern in retrospect where it appears that virtually every time Notts have the toss in 4-day cricket the wrong decision has been appeared to have made. Poor decision making or is the brutal truth that the team is simply not good enough

....almost certainly the latter.

After the disaster of day 1, Notts struggled to take the final two Durham wickets. The underused Mullaney picked up third wicket when Harrison was leg before. The new ball was taken and after an hours cricket Durham were finally dismissed as Rushwoth edged Fletcher to slip. Durham 256 all out with the superb Collingwood 88 not out. Adams return to form was underlined with figures of 4 for 69, Fletcher bowled wholeheartedly with two for 63. Mullaney was clearly under bowled with 8-2-22-3. Gurney as in recent games looked tired.

The only question was whether Notts could avoid the innings defeat. Wessels (11) lasted 24 balls, before tamely edging Rushworth bowling from the Lumley End to Richardson at slip. Lumb and the gritty Mullaney survived 26 overs until Lumb (28) departed leg before to the best seamer in the Division as Onions picked up the wicket. Taylor (12) devoid of form lasted 23 balls before having his off stump knocked back by Rushworth; 112 for three.

Mullaney dropped on 14 and 59 profited from a vacant third man area but showed the application perhaps sadly missing from some of his teammates and was eventually adjudged leg before by umpire Gale to Onions delivery going down leg side for a fine 72, 134 for four. The lackadaisical Patel (4) edged tamely to slip; 134 for five, as a two-day defeat looked to becoming a certainty. Read was never going to last long as he departed for a 10-ball duck edging Onions to Mustard, 143 for 6. Franks joined Hussey as Collingwood missed a trick by not introducing Borthwick’s leg spinners as soon as he did, Franks departed to the first ball he received from Borthwick having his off stump removed. The General gone for 29, but the stand was worth 59. Adams was caught on the deep cover ropes for a duck. Fletcher (20) lasted six overs before driving to mid off as Stokes injured earlier returned late on to take the last three wickets. The new ball was five balls away when Hussey played on for a pleasing 57 off 65 balls. Notts 246 all out.

With clear blue skies it was strange that the extra half hour was not taken as Durham closed on seven for nought after a single over from Fletcher.

Another day and match where Notts have been very much second best. They must hope and pray that Surrey looking well placed in Birmingham do not secure a morale boosting victory. A 10 point draw against Somerset may secure their top flight position but being winless now for 11 games the drop seems more probable with each passing day..... MAG

Day 1

If the logic was with a 10.30 AM start you must bowl first; why on Earth did 
Chris Read choose to bat on winning the toss at Chester le Street with a 10.15 
AM start? Excuses given were given that previous scores suggested pitch deterioration as the match progressed but the decision to bat wasn't based on actual pitch and weather conditions at the moment of toss - foolish at best I'd say

Any plan has severely, probably terminally, backfired and a three day defeat is 
looking odds on.

Notts First Innings 78  and in their Second Innings 246

Durham First Innings 256 and 7/0

(First Innings) Another top order flop, this time not salvaged by the lower order. 

If Mr Newell would like to be judged, let's judge him at the conclusion of this fiasco!

Surrey clocked up max Batting points in their game.

Andre Adams,
 Jake Ball,
 Luke Fletcher,
 Paul Franks, 
Harry Gurney,
 Alex Hales,
 David Hussey,
 Michael Lumb, 
Steven Mullaney,
 Samit Patel, 
Chris Read (c),
 Ajmal Shahzad, 
James Taylor,
 Riki Wessels.

Durham start

All four (if the game goes that far) days for the LV= match at Chester le Street next week will have a scheduled start time of 10.15AM.

The change is at Nottinghamshire's request, in light of a plane ride from Newcastle at the game's conclusion.

Will the in form Jake Ball play at Chester le Street, he's very similar to some of the Durham attack that reap repeated success on that track, so why not?