Result: Glamorgan (353 & 266/7; Selman 116*; Harding 4/111; 23 points) beat Durham (342 & 276/7d; Collingwood 92*; 6 points) by three wickets
Durham fell to defeat by three wickets after a selfless declaration by captain Paul Collingwood set up an exciting finish against Glamorgan at Swansea.
Collingwood denied himself the chance to become the first Durham man to twice score two centuries in a match after a rain delay further shortened play on the final day.
The skipper declared unbeaten on 92 after scoring 127 in the first innings, on his 41st birthday, leaving the Welsh county a target of 266 in 51 overs.
And all three results remained possible until the final over but an outstanding innings by opener Nick Selman saw Glamorgan home with three balls to spare.
With 14 required off the last six balls, Selman struck two big sixes before running the two more required to pull off the chase.
George Harding took a four-for on his first-class debut, including the big wicket of in-form Colin Ingram, but Durham were defeated at the death.
They earlier added 118 runs in the morning session & would have probably batted on after lunch had 16 overs not been lost to rain.
Collingwood and Graham Clark shared an 102-run partnership for the fourth wicket before Clark, who struck a career-best 75, feathered one from Michael Hogan to the wicketkeeper.
Ryan Pringle then added a further 81 with his skipper before three wickets fell for 26 runs. Pringle hooked Hogan to fine leg, Paul Coughlin skied Andrew Salter to mid- on & Stuart Poynter was well caught by wicketkeeper Cooke from a bottom edge.
After the subsequent rain after lunch & declaration that followed, Glamorgan made a cautious start before Jacques Rudolph was caught at leg slip attempting to reverse sweep Harding’s left arm spin.
The hosts required a further 227 from the final 35.3 overs of the game & made their intentions clear by promoting Andrew Salter, who top scored with 75 in the first innings with three sixes.
However, Salter faced 15 balls before scoring his first run & was out shortly afterwards, LBW to Pringle’s third ball.
Aneurin Donald and David Lloyd were also promoted ahead of Ingram, who had scored five centuries in all competitions this season, with Donald striking 28 from 17 balls with six fours, before he was caught off Harding. The left arm spinner, making his Championship debut, struck again in the following over, when Lloyd was clean bowled.
It looked as though Durham were in the ascendancy before Selman and Ingram put on 73 & Chris Cooke kept Glamorgan interested after the latter’s wicket, striking both spinners for six in successive overs.
With 44 required from 30 balls, Coughlin returned and with his fourth ball had Cooke caught at midwicket. Will Bragg soon came and went, and with two overs left, Glamorgan had much to do to score 24 runs from 12 balls.
Selman reached his second century of the season from 124 balls & with 14 needed from the last over, the opener drove Coughlin into the sightscreen & over the square leg boundary before winning the match with three balls to spare.
Durham are next in action when Northamptonshire visit Emirates Riverside starting on Friday, 2 June.
Close, Day Three: Durham (342 & 158/3; Clark 63*) lead Glamorgan (353; Salter 75; Coughlin 4/87) by 147 runs
Durham ended Day Three leading by 147 runs with seven wickets remaining ahead of an evenly-poised final day of the Specsavers County Championship match against Glamorgan.
Graham Clark & first innings centurion Paul Collingwood added an unbroken stand of 83 before a combination of rain & bad light saw the day finish early.
After looking like the hosts would follow on at one stage, they managed a first innings lead of 11 thanks to lower order resistance & a career best 75 from Andrew Salter.
Overnight batsman Chris Cooke only added six runs to his overnight score of 63 before he was caught and bowled by Paul Coughlin, as the bowler dived forwards to take the catch.
From there it looked as though Durham were in the driving seat but Marchant de Lange came to the crease & showed some attacking intent with a series of powerfully hit boundaries, one of which forced non-striker Andrew Salter to duck under a straight drive.
He followed it up with a straight-driven six off first-class debutant George Harding but he swung once too often & Chris Rushworth beat him with flight as he was bowled for 30.
Timm van der Gugten quickly followed, caught at slip by Keaton Jennings for 0, but captain Michael Hogan came in & dealt a couple of blows for four off the first two balls of his innings, following up with six over Coughlin’s head.
Andrew Salter brought up his fifty with a pull for six & they passed Durham’s first innings score of 342 before Andrew Salter was caught by Jennings for 75 & Glamorgan were all out for 353.
With the hosts buoyed by late order runs, it took just over two overs for them to get their first breakthrough with the ball as Stephen Cook skewed a ball to point.
Durham were back in the lead by 24 when they lost their second wicket, Cameron Steel bowled by van der Gugten for 10.
The visitors got back on track as Keaton Jennings and Graham Clark added 40 for the third wicket before the former fell victim to David Lloyd’s first ball of the innings, trapped lbw for 35.
Clark, who survived a dropped catch by de Lange on 25, reached his half-century off 97 balls soon after the break, in a crucial fourth wicket partnership with skipper Collingwood.
Close, Day Two: Glamorgan (225/6) trail Durham (342; Collingwood 127) by 117 runs
Durham’s bowlers were rewarded with six wickets on a rain-affected second day of the Specsavers County Championship Division Two match against Glamorgan at St Helen’s, Swansea.
The hosts ended the second day on 225/6, a first innings deficit of 117 runs after James Weighell, Chris Rushworth & Paul Coughlin took two wickets apiece.
Due to a combination of rain and bad light – in stark contrast to the first day – no play was possible before lunch.
However, when play got underway at 2.30pm, Glamorgan’s openers Jacques Rudolph and Nick Selman came out showing a real attacking intent, reaching 23/0 inside the third over.
Things quickly changed, however, & the run-rate started to slow considerably when Selman played a loose shot to Cameron Steel at point off Rushworth.
More importantly for Durham, the wickets also began to flow. The attacking Rudolph played one shot too many, edging to Paul Collingwood in the slips, before in-form South African batsman Colin Ingram fell in a similar vein, handing Coughlin his first wicket thanks to a very good low catch by the skipper.
Aneurin Donald played in much the same vein as Rudolph, including a big six over the leg side, but his progress was halted when Will Bragg was beaten by extra bounce – & a hint of movement – in skying Weighell to Rushworth at mid-on.
New batsman David Lloyd could have gone third ball, but a chance went begging for Ryan Pringle at slip.
Having restricted Glamorgan to 112/4 at tea, it took just ten balls into the final session for Durham to pick up their fifth wicket.
Collingwood was again the catcher at slip as Coughlin’s teasing delivery nipped away, finding the edge of Lloyd’s bat to hand the simplest of catches.
Donald had reached his half-century off 74 balls before a one-handed mid-wicket catch by Keaton Jennings off Weighell brought an end to a 42-run partnership which had offered some middle-order as Glamorgan reached 167/6.
Andrew Salter joined Chris Cooke at the crease and an unbeaten partnership of 58 saw Glamorgan through to the close of play after the latter had reached his half-century off 83 balls, having hit eight fours along the way.
Close, Day One: Durham (342; Collingwood 127) vs Glamorgan
It’s been a 41st birthday to remember for Durham captain Paul Collingwood as he struck a century on the first day of the Specsavers County Championship Division Two clash against Glamorgan.
Collingwood ended on 127, the same score as his 39th birthday hundred against Worcestershire two years ago, as Durham made 342 at St Helen’s, Swansea.
It was the captain’s 23rd first-class ton for the county, extending his lead in the all-time standings, & 33rd of an already illustrious career.
He was dismissed in the penultimate over & three followed as Glamorgan captain Michael Hogan ended his first day as skipper with a five-wicket haul.
But the day belonged to Collingwood, who seems to only be getting better with age in scoring his first hundred of the 2017 season after a number of eye-catching performances in the Royal London One-Day Cup.
After winning the toss & electing to bat, Durham lost two wickets in the first eight overs of the match, including that of key opening batsman Keaton Jennings, clean bowled by Marchant de Lange for four in the fifth over.
Subsequently, Stephen Cook was trapped leg before wicket by Timm van der Gugten, but a poor start left the visitors up against it at 92-2 at lunch as Graham Clark and Cameron Steel built an 86-run partnership for the third wicket.
Clark fell to a superb low slip catch by Nick Selman off Michael Hogan, the visitors having reached 103-3 & Steel followed in the same vein, but not before bringing up his maiden County Championship fifty.
Just three overs later, Ryan Pringle was caught by wicket-keeper Chris Cooke off Marchant de Lange for five but a sixth wicket partnership of 91 with Paul Coughlin put the visitors back in the game as they claimed a second batting point.
Coughlin was leg before wicket to Timm van der Gugten for 31 but another strong partnership with Stuart Poynter ensured Collingwood went on to reach his century off 158 balls, including 17 fours.
The skipper then accelerated in the final overs of the day, launching a six out of the ground & following up with three consecutive fours, before Andrew Salter had his revenge in trapping him LBW.
The rest of the innings concluded almost immediately as Hogan finished off the tail, leaving it even stevens ahead of Day Two.