Close: Durham (404/5d & 270/6d; Steel 82, Jennings 71) beat Durham MCCU (152 & 63; Onions 4/3, Wood 4/6) by 459 runs
Post-match reaction from Graham Onions & Jon Lewis
Graham Onions & Mark Wood ran through Durham MCCU’s batting lineup to hand Durham victory within the first session on Day Three.
The pair managed eight wickets between them as the students were unable to cope with the pace and accuracy of Durham’s seam bowlers.
Onions returned figures of 4/3 while Wood managed 4/6 as the university finished all out for 63, having been 2/5 at one stage.
Brydon Carse also picked up wicket while Cameron Steel finished it off with his second delivery to round off a thumping win.
Durham decided to declare overnight & test the students’ resolve to bat out the day; they were one down after two balls as Onions trapped Will Fraine LBW.
Wood then struck twice, removing the middle stump of Ed Pollock & enticing Jason Marshall to nick behind, before Onions’ second wicket made it 1/4.
And it was soon 2/5 when Wood pegged back the off stump of Ben Graves.
Freddie Ruffell (11) & captain Joe Cooke (22) helped to stave off a collapse inside the first hour but once they were gone, the latter falling once Onions returned, the game was all-but done.
Wood’s second spell brought the wicket of Alex McGrath before Steel finished proceedings off just after 1:15pm.
Close, Day Two: Durham (404/5d & 270/6; Steel 82, Jennings 71) lead Durham MCCU (152; Onions 4/21, Pringle 4/37) by 522 runs
Keaton Jennings & Cameron Steel both made half-centuries in an opening stand of 156 as Durham continued to dominate Durham MCCU on Day Two at Emirates Riverside.
Jennings retired unbeaten on 71 while Steel made 82 before holing out on the deep square-leg boundary in pursuit of quick runs.
The right-hander made it two half-centuries against former teams inside a week after also passing fifty against Middlesex earlier this week.
Graham Onions (4/21) & Ryan Pringle (4/37) did the damage with the ball to bowl the students out for 152 but Jennings decided against enforcing the follow-on.
That decision allowed the batsmen more time in the middle ahead of the season and Durham still have plenty of chance to go for the win in this three-day friendly.
At no point did the opening pair look in any trouble, with Steel making the most of the early running to steam ahead at over one-run-per-ball.
The ex-Durham MCCU man got there before tea with 9x4s before England opener Jennings followed after tea, his coming from 77 balls following a glut of boundaries in a post-tea charge.
But while Jennings retired, Steel was out in an attempt to rush towards his three figures, the first of three wickets for Ben Graves.
After missing out the previous day, Stuart Poynter came in at three to make 27 while Ryan Pringle, in one place after the Irishman, made a quickfire 42 including a mammoth six into the scoreboard.
Durham were batting soon after lunch on Day Two after regular wickets in the morning session.
Mark Wood struck first, demolishing Ed Pollock’s stumps with a full and straight delivery, before Onions pinned Jason Marshall LBW.
A mini-revival lead by Graves staved off a collapse before the introduction of Pringle’s off-spin.
He struck inside his second over and added three more either side of lunch, matching Onions’ haul of four wickets to leave the University 252 runs short.
Close, Day One: Durham MCCU (45/2) trail Durham (404/5d; Burnham 150, Richardson 116) by 359 runs
Jack Burnham scored his second hundred of the week while Michael Richardson also made three figures as Durham piled on the runs against Durham MCCU at Emirates Riverside.
Burnham, deployed at number three by head coach Jon Lewis, hit a destructive 150 to back up his hundred against Middlesex on Monday.
He and Richardson put on a mammoth 209 for the third wicket, with the latter scoring his second hundred in as many games against the students.
Graham Clark added 57 before the declaration was called on 404/5 with an hour left in the day.
It took Graham Onions just two balls to strike in the students’ reply & they finished the day on 45/2.
After Keaton Jennings won the toss and elected to bowl on a dry-looking surface, the aim was for Durham to make hay beneath the morning cloud.
Jennings fell early, LBW to a yorker from Alex McGrath, and fellow opener Cameron Steel looked at ease before offering a simple catch off skipper Joe Cooke’s first over.
Richardson joined Burnham at the crease and the pair started a mammoth partnership as the students failed to assert any sort of pressure on the pair.
The latter produced a number of powerful straight drives, reaching 50 from 72 balls and moving to three figures in just 52 balls.
Richardson’s innings was slightly more conservative but he unfurled a number of picturesque drives before Burnham struck argubaly the shot of the day, rocking back to hit Cooke into the second row of hospitality boxes in the Don Robson Pavilion.
He reached 150 soon after and was stumped the very next ball, handing left-arm spinner Benadict Graves his first wicket.
The South African moved to his three figures from 151 balls with 11 boundaries as the fifth-wicket partnership of 91 moved at over five runs-per-over.
Richardson eventually chopped onto his own stumps the delivery after hitting Darrel Williams for six but Clark made 57.
Once he was trapped LBW to McGrath, the declaration was called and Onions wasted no time in getting started.
His second delivery was nicked behind by Will Fraine before Jack Clark followed in almost identical fashion in the ninth over.
There were other close calls in the final over but the students will begin Day Two with eight wickets in hand as they try to close on Durham’s huge first innings total.