Day 4
Ollie Robinson scored a class 171* almost guiding Durham to an unlikely win over Lancashire in their Vitality County Championship match at Blackpool.
George Balderson took four vital wickets with the new ball to help Lancashire secure a 60-run win and get their first win of the season.
Balderson’s achievement overshadowed the contributions of more illustrious cricketers on each side. Nathan Lyon took one wicket on the final day, Ben Stokes made just 18, and the seamer’s 4-52 also ensured that Durham’s centurions, David Bedingham and Ollie Robinson, finished on the losing side.
That was hard on Bedingham, who made two hundreds in the game, and Robinson, who finished on the losing side despite making a career-best 171 not out. But the outcome seemed unlikely when the Durham pair were putting on 216 for the fourth wicket and taking Durham to 313 for three in pursuit of 475 to win.
The morning session began poorly for Lancashire. Robinson pulled Saqib Mahmood for two sixes in his opening overs and Durham scored 50 runs in the first 45 minutes of play. It was just on the hour mark when Lyon bowled the first maiden of the day, by which time both Bedingham and Robinson had reached their fifties.
Almost the only scare the Durham batters suffered in the first two hours came when Bedingham was dropped on 54, Luke Wells just failing to cling on to a sharp one-handed chance to his right off Lyon.
Robinson eventually reached his first century of the season off 132 balls, having scored 90 runs in the morning, with a sweep off Lyon in the over before lunch. At the interval, Durham were 284 for three; Bedingham and Robinson had scored 150 runs off 30 overs in the session.
After lunch, Keaton Jennings entrusted his attack to the spinners and the flow of runs slowed a little. But Bedingham copied Jennings by making his second century of the match when he cover-drove Wells for four and it was only the tenth time in the history of the County Championship that two players have achieved the feat in the same match.
Having reached that landmark, Bedingham pushed forward to his next delivery and was caught by Matty Hurst off Lyon for 103, thus ending his 216-run fourth-wicket stand with Robinson.
That breakthrough for Lancashire brought Stokes to the wicket with his side still needing 162 to win but having taken 22 balls to get off the mark with a reverse-swept four off Lyon, the England captain then took a four and a six off successive balls from Wells’ next over. However, the leg-spinner had his revenge shortly afterwards when Stokes was bowled for 18 when attempting a reverse-sweep to a full-length delivery.
Lancashire took the new ball with the score on 362 for five only for Graham Clark’s pulled six off Aspinwall to take Durham to within a hundred of their target. That, though, was followed by what seemed a pivotal over as George Balderson had Clark caught behind for 18 and Paul Coughlin taken at slip by Jennings for a second ball nought.
Next over, Balderson sprinted forwards to take a return catch off bat and pad to get rid of Ben Raine for three. A gigantic mix-up between new batter Matthew Potts and Robinson saw Potts run out for two thanks to substitute fielder George Lavelle’s accurate throw to the bowler’s end.
Robinson then took the attack to Lancashire’s bowler but his 26-run last-wicket partnership with Callum Parkinson ended when Parkinson was caught at slip by Jennings, Lancashire’s double centurion, off Balderson.
It is Lancashire first victory of the season in the County Championship but it can take them no higher than ninth in the First Division. The only downside for the Red Rose was that Saqib Mahmood bowled only two overs on the last day and seemed to be suffering from an unspecified injury.
Day 3 Durham 236ao & 134/3 trail Lancashire 357ao & 353/9declared by 341 runs
Durham’s Ben Stokes took five second-innings wickets for 98 against Lancashire at Blackpool but Keaton Jennings’s second century of the match helped ensure that his side will go into the final day of this game as warm favourites to win their first Vitality County Championship match of the season.
Jennings was dismissed by Stokes but only after making 155 in his side’s 353 for nine declared, setting his former side what would a county record fourth-innings score of 475 to win.
Durham’s confident pursuit of that distant target was damaged by Tom Aspinwall, who took two wickets in seven balls, and the visitors ended the day on 134 for three
Lancashire made the most cautious of starts to the morning, only nine runs being scored in the opening eleven overs of the day for the loss of nightwatchman, Will Williams, who was lbw to Ben Raine for one.
Jennings was particularly careful, taking 54 balls to score the dozen more runs he needed for his half-century, but his circumspection was justified on a pitch offering left-arm spinner Callum Parkinson plenty of help.
Stokes was brought on from the South End in the 15th over of the day and soon had a wicket when he trapped George Bell lbw for 17. Stokes also had Jennings caught at second slip off a no-ball when the opener was 75 but the England captain’s initial six-over spell cost 36 runs as Jennings and Tom Bruce sought to accelerate in the second half of the morning session.
Having scored 33 runs off 16 overs in the first hour of play, Lancashire added another 82 off 15 in the second and Jennings reached his century off Paul Coughlin’s last ball before lunch when he tucked the ball backward of square on the leg side. He therefore became only the second batter after Warwickshire’s Jim Stewart in 1959 to score a hundred in each innings of a match at Blackpool.
Jennings and Bruce had taken their fifth-wicket partnership to exactly 100 when Bruce was caught behind by Robinson for 43 but Jennings went on to pass 11,000 first-class runs on what became an unusually productive afternoon for Lancashire’s batters.
Stokes returned to the attack and had George Balderson caught behind for 17 before he eventually had Jennings pouched at mid-off by Scott Borthwick for 155. Typically, the England captain was the first man to congratulate his former Durham colleague and he also dismissed Aspinwall to finish with five for 98 in Lancashire’s second innings and a match analysis of 38-2-169-7.
Jennings declared when Lancashire’s ninth wicket fell just before the scheduled tea-break, leaving Durham needing 475 to win. Borthwick and Alex Lees made an impressive start to their pursuit of that goal by putting on 83 in 16 overs but Aspinwall then struck twice in his first seven balls.
First he had Lees well caught low down to his left by Matty Hurst for 40 and then he bowled Colin Ackermann for a five-ball nought with a fine delivery that nipped away to hit the off stump. Three overs later, Borthwick was bowled by Nathan Lyon for 39 when he attempted to slog-sweep the Australian off-spinner and Durham ended the day still 341 runs short of their improbable goal with David Bedingham unbeaten on 31.
Day 2 Durham 236ao trail Lancashire 357ao & 91/2
David Bedingham scored a second consecutive century for Durham while twenty-year-old Lancashire all-rounder Tom Aspinwall took a five-wicket haul in just his second first-class match to help bowl the visitors out for 236 in reply to the hosts 337 in this Vitality County Championship match at a sweltering Blackpool.
Bedingham, who is having such a good start to the season, backed up his 144 against Hampshire last week with a vital 101 to counter the efforts of Nathan Lyon who took four for 59 while Aspinwall, who did not bowl in his debut due to rain, twice broke important Durham partnerships on his way to impressive figures of five for 41.
Leading by 121 runs, Lancashire were 91 for two in their second innings by the close with Keaton Jennings 38 not out and nightwatchman Will Williams 0 not out having significantly extended their advantage to 212 runs with two days left to play.
Ben Stokes could only made brief contributions to his second day of action, scoring two runs in his seventeen minutes at the crease and taking one wicket from four overs when Lancashire batted a second time.
The match up that everyone at Stanley Park was looking forward to today duly arrived at 2.15pm when Stokes faced his first ball from Lyon.
The Australian off spinner had just taken his second wicket courtesy of a great one-handed reflex catch by George Bell at short leg to dismiss Ollie Robinson for a duck at the start of his 16th consecutive over.
Stokes pressed forward to the first seven deliveries he faced from Lyon but played back to the eighth, fatefully as it turned out, that found an edge nicely snapped up by Tom Bruce at second slip.
Lyon gave a little punch of delight as Lancashire celebrated the success in a good passage of play for the hosts that had Durham in trouble on 145 for five at the halfway stage of the day.
Bedingham and Graham Clark countered impressively with a 108-run stand that looked to be putting the visitors in striking range of matching the Lancashire total. Bedingham reached his century from 142 balls just before tea having hit two sixes, one of which sailed out of the Stanley Park ground, and eight fours.
But Durham lost their last five wickets for 23 runs after the break at the hands of Lyon and Aspinwall, the latter bowling Bedingham for 101 via a bottom edge two balls into the session and the former trapping Clark lbw for 24 playing back.
Aspinwall then cleaned up the tail, taking the final three wickets of Ben Raine caught at second slip for a duck, Matty Potts bowled for six, and Callum Parkinson lbw for 0, to march off holding the match ball.
At the start of the day, Lancashire could only add seven runs to their overnight score, with Saqib Mahmood left still looking for a maiden first-class fifty when last out for 46 in the hosts total of 357.
Alex Lees made a positive start with three driven fours before two wickets in two balls dented the Durham reply after the opening pair had made 34. Lees edged behind off George Balderson for 24 at the end of the bowler’s first over while fellow opener Scott Borthwick was smartly caught at slip by Jennings off the very next ball bowled by Lyon via an edge deflected by wicketkeeper Matty Hurst.
And on a wicket that continues to interest all the bowlers, Bedingham and Ackermann fought with great determination to steer their side through the remainder of the morning session before prospering in the afternoon, building a 94-run partnership in the Blackpool sunshine.
A great leaping catch at first slip by Jennings broke that alliance, giving twenty-year-old all rounder Aspinwall his maiden first-class wicket as Ackermann departed for 44 followed quickly by Robinson.
We then briefly had the Stokes v Lyon contest, but after that it was the Bedingham show before Aspinwall and Lyon took centre stage.
Day 1 Lancashire 350/9
Ben Stokes took his first wickets of the summer, finishing the day with two for 70 from 17 overs, while Keaton Jennings scored his 28th first-class century as Lancashire made a competitive 350 for nine after being put in to bat by Durham on the opening day at Blackpool.
Stokes last featured in a four-day game for Durham in May 2022. And with Lancashire going well on 163 for one, the England Test Match captain showed he still retains the knack of taking a wicket when his team needs it by luring Josh Bohannon (39) into a taking on a short delivery that the batsman top-edged into the hands of Callum Parkinson at deep backward square.
That wicket started a determined Durham fightback after Jennings and Luke Wells had equalled their best opening partnership of the season, posting 87 runs before Wells edged Matty Potts to slip for 27, with Jennings and Bohannon combined to add a further 76 to steer Lancashire into a strong position.
Stokes, who had struggled for a consistent line and length in his first two pre-lunch spells and had kicked the turf in frustration at times, then struck with the first ball of his ninth over. That wicket presumably brought some relief to Durham captain Scott Borthwick following his decision at the toss, as home skipper Jennings produced a brilliant century off 137 balls that included 15 fours.
From that point the Durham attack continued to make further inroads with Paul Coughlin having George Bell caught behind for eight before Callum Parkinson took the key wicket of Jennings, caught at mid-on attempting to hit over the top. Potts was finally rewarded for a fine afternoon spell when George Balderson edged behind for 14 to leave Lancashire on 255 for five.
The day was very much in the balance at that point, but Tom Bruce pushed the score with a careful and determined innings. The Kiwi overseas batter was going along nicely on 46 until Stokes struck again in a faster, more accurate fourth spell after tea, banging in a short delivery that found a leading edge with the ball ballooning gently back to the bowler.
Ben Raine backed up that breakthrough with the next three wickets to even up the day, having Tom Aspinwall caught at second slip for two, Matty Hurst brilliantly caught for 20 by wicketkeeper Ollie Robinson diving away to his left to take a quite magnificent catch, and then Will Williams lbw for nine.
A late onslaught by Saqib Mahmood, who thumped a six off Raine and a further five fours in a Lancashire-best 40 not out off only 48 balls meant the hosts ended the day the happier camp.