Day two didn’t start in the best manner when Paul Collingwood (12) loosely drove the first delivery of the day, a slow ball from Andre Adams, into the hands of Riki Wessels in the slips leaving Durham 44-4.
Dale Benkenstein and Ian Blackwell dug in, despite early drizzle, and pushed on to cement a fifty partnership within the first hour. They added 81 in total before Benkenstein was caught by Steven Mullaney off Luke Fletcher on 49.
Mustard off the mark with two consecutive boundaries as Blackwell continued to score steadily, scoring 52 from fifty deliveries, including six boundaries, before he was caught and bowled by White.
Mark Wood seemed to get into his stride just before lunch so the break did him no favours as he was caught by Hales off Adams for 6 in the first over of the second session.
The final three wickets were lost within five overs with Mustard adding 31 before he became White’s second victim, caught by Wessels in the slips.
Claydon went on to push an Adams delivery to Mullaney at second slip to contribute just 2 before Thorp (12) came down the wicket and was stumped as Durham fall for 195, five short of a batting bonus point.
Durham attacked immediately with Alex Hales caught behind off Claydon first ball and in the seventh over went on to claim the wicket of the second opener, Karl Turner (4), to fell to the same fate with Notts 17-2 in the seventh over.
Notts extended their lead but when Wood had Darren Bravo caught at mid off by Benkenstein on 30 he quickly claimed a second victim, Mullaney (1), when he was caught by Michael Di Venuto at second slip, at which point Notts were 111-4.
With Notts reaching 140, Wood also dismissed Wessels, who had caused Durham trouble this innings, when he was caught in outstanding fashion by Benkenstein on 84.
Mitchell Claydon bowled both Franks (1) and White (4) cheaply and there was a real celebration when the seamer had Read caught behind on 35 handing him his second five wicket haul of the season as well as reducing Notts to 180-8.
Adams came in and smashed a quickfire fifty to push Notts lead to over 300 and was quietly supported by Pattinson who contributed 16 from 31 balls before he was bowled by Brathwaite.
Durham were set 321 for the win after Brathwaite claimed the final victim, Fletcher, who was caught by Collingwood on 4.
The visitors lost Will Smith off the fifth delivery when he was trapped lbw off Fletcher at the close of play were 20-1 with Di Venuto and Claydon set to return on day three, with 320 runs required to win.
At the close of play Durhamccc.co.uk spoke to Mitchell Claydon who picked up his second fiver-fer of the season, “We’re chasing 320 with two days to go and a very short boundary, it’ll take someone to put in a special knock. We’ve got quality batters and I think it showed today that once the ball gets older it’s quite a difficult pitch to bowl on. We managed to get it to reverse for about eight overs but then it just went dead. We had plans, but when someone like Adams get in and hits it the way he does it’s difficult. It was a toiling day and we probably didn’t bowl as well as we could of and we let them get more runs than we would have liked.
“The short boundary has been frustrating because you can get an edge that goes for four but normally might just be one. But, both teams are playing on the same field so you just have to get on with it.
“We knew it was key to establish partnerships to get stuck in but we didn’t really get going but we’ve got two days to put it right, it’s all to play for.
“I got to go and get stuck in tonight and get to play with a bit of freedom tomorrow and hopefully score some runs. I’ve done it before with Diva, he’s quite nice to bat with so hopefully I can do it again.”
Follow the action from day two, as it happened, via Durham CCC’s Live Match Chat, www.durhamccc.co.uk/live-match-chat
Highlights are uploaded each morning at www.durhamccc.co.uk/durhamtv