It was a wicket-fest at Emirates Durham ICG on Day 1 with 18 wickets falling on an eventful day where Phil Mustard and Paul Collingwood steered Durham to control and lead by 129 runs.
On a chilly Autumn morning at Emirates Durham ICG, Nottinghamshire won the toss and elected to bat, a decision they may have regretted by lunch time.
The Durham pace attack was in full swing, looking lethal from the first ball as the home side made the visitors know the importance of this game from the get go.
Chris Rushworth got the ball rolling and struck early, in his second over of the day claiming the wicket of Mullaney for 6 who edged to Michael Richardson to third slip.
Graham Onions then continued his superb season with a couple of wickets in a row, firstly dismissing Lumb (8) who edged behind to Mustard and Onions then followed up by trapping Wessels lbw for 17 in his next over.
Rushworth then claimed his 50th Championship wicket to leave Notts four wickets down when he trapped James Taylor lbw for 6 the following over.
The wickets continued to tumble and Rushworth claimed his third just four balls later, Patel finding Mustard’s hands whilst Dave Hussey did the same the next over with the Australian edging to Mustard to give Onions his third as Nottinghamshire found themselves 42-6.
Jamie Harrison then came into the attack with some inspired bowling of his own and he too got in on the wicket taking, trapping Read lbw in the 21st over. The following over Usman Arshad took his first, knocking out Adams’ off stump and the visitors were 8 wickets down with just 63 runs on the board.
Harrison then cleaned up the tail as Fletcher found Jennings at mid-wicket in the 23rd over and then four overs later Franks edged to Collingwood in the slips for 9 as Harrison finished with impressive figures of 3-4 whilst Rushworth 3-24 and Onions 3-30.
Durham came to the crease with purpose and negotiated the handful of overs before the lunch break with Jennings and Stoneman looking confident.
After lunch it was a different story however with Jennings (9) dismissed the first over after the interval, departing in the 4th over of the Durham innings after finding Wessels in the slips, Fletcher claiming the first wicket for the visitors.
His opening partner only lasted another over as Mark Stoneman also found Wessels with Adams taking the wicket this time.
Adams then claimed his 2nd wicket when Will Smith gave Wessels another catch and Durham were in trouble at 25-3.
The news didn’t get much better as the middle session progressed with Richardson the next to go in the 20th over finding Patel to give Adams his third. Ben Stokes then came to the crease after arriving back from England ODI duties in Southampton and lasted just the two balls as Adams claimed his fourth, Durham 45-5.
Scott Borthwick who had stayed composed at the crease as wickets tumbled around him soon became the next Durham batsmen to fall, six overs later, making 29 before he edged behind to give Gurney his first wicket.
It was then left to experienced duo Phil Mustard and Captain Paul Collingwood to steady for Durham who were in trouble at 74-6 when the pair joined forces.
The duo saw Durham through to tea and carried on after the break with a superb 121-run stand to give Durham back the momentum.
Mustard passed 50 with some usual classic shot making with his half century off 72 balls and including eight boundaries and made his way to 77 before he was bowled by Mullaney who got the breakthrough for Nottinghamshire.
The wicket ended the 121-run partnership which had given Durham a lead of 117.
After Mustard’s wicket, Collingwood carried on at the crease and registered his half century and continued to lead the way with the bat.
The wicket of Graham Onions was the only other wicket to fall on Day 1 as he found Fletcher to give Mullaney the wicket as bad light halted play not long after.
Durham finished 207-8 with a lead of 129 runs with Collingwood unbeaten on 53 and Jamie Harrison the new batsman.
The will look to build on the lead going into Day 2 in a fast-paced Championship encounter.