Result: Nottinghamshire (305 & 110/1; Smith 60*; 22 points) beat Durham (162 & 250; Jennings 102*; 3 points) by nine wickets
Keaton Jennings’ first century of the 2017 Specsavers County Championship season proved in vain as Durham dropped to a nine-wicket defeat against Nottinghamshire.
The left-hander moved to an unbeaten 102 before running out of partners at Emirates Riverside.
It was the eleventh time a Durham batsman has carried the bat through an innings, with Jennings also completing the feat in the final home game of last season against Surrey.
With the pitch looking flatter than at any time in the match, Greg Smith and Jake Libby had few problems in picking off the runs.
They were only 15 short of the 108 target when Libby was yorked by Paul Coughlin for 39, but Smith remained unbeaten on 60.
He finished the match by clipping Coughlin sweetly off his toes through mid-wicket for his ninth four, the runs coming off 26.2 overs.
Batting had looked relatively straightforward from the outset, but after Mark Wood had helped to add 43 Durham’s last three wickets went down quickly.
Jennings began last season with a century in both innings at home to Somerset and went on to hit four more hundreds at Riverside and one at Edgbaston in setting a Durham record of seven in a season.
A century on his Test debut in India followed and he was watched by selector James Whitaker today.
Resuming on 201/7, all went well until Wood fell for 21, pulling Luke Fletcher straight to mid-wicket with the total on 244.
Wood had hit two high-class cover drives and an even more impressive cut for four off Fletcher.
Jennings, on 82 overnight, moved into the 90s when he pulled Jake Ball through square leg for his first boundary of the day then did well to dig out a swift yorker from James Pattinson.
When Harry Gurney replaced Pattinson, Jennings pulled the left-armer’s first ball in front of mid-wicket for four. He was on 99 when Wood departed, but ran Gurney to third man to reach his hundred off 201 balls.
Graham Onions was bowled by Gurney, then Chris Rushworth pushed his first ball into the covers and failed to beat Ball’s throw in going back for a second.
Other than a couple of edges, which did not go to hand, plus a very quick bouncer from Wood, there were no scares for Smith and Libby.
Durham’s next match comes against Gloucestershire at the Brightside Ground starting from Friday.
Close, Day Three: Durham (162 & 201/7; Jennings 82*) lead Nottinghamshire (305; Fletcher 92, Pattinson 59; Rushworth 4/54) by 58 runs
Only 50 minutes’ play was possible on the third day between Durham and Nottinghamshire.
The visitors managed two wickets in the 11.3 overs of play that were possible but were thwarted by the elements, with danger of more rain on the final day.
Play began at 12.25 with lunch scheduled for 1.30, but the rain returned at 1.15 and persisted all afternoon.
Keaton Jennings continued to show his class, moving on from 62 to 82 after needing to change his bat when the day’s second ball from James Pattinson leapt awkwardly.
With no addition to the overnight 162/5, Ryan Pringle blocked Jake Ball’s first four balls but was bowled from his fifth.
Jennings drove successive balls to the boundary on either side of the wicket in Ball’s second over.
A fierce cut off Pattinson also flew to the rope then Stuart Poynter took ten runs off a Ball over, helped by a four through the vacant third slip area.
But the wicketkeeper fell for 17 when he groped forward and lost his off stump to Harry Gurney.
Close, Day Two: Durham (162 & 162/5; Jennings 62*) lead Nottinghamshire (305; Fletcher 92, Pattinson 59; Rushworth 4/54) by 19 runs
Keaton Jennings’ unbeaten 62 helped keep Durham alive in the Specsavers County Championship match with Nottinghamshire at Emirates Riverside.
The England opener batted throughout the afternoon, including a marathon 48-over final session, to give his side a chance of forcing a positive result in the final two days.
Paul Collingwood (40) & Paul Coughlin (36) also chipped in during respective 50-run partnerships but both were dismissed by fiery Aussie James Pattinson.
The former fell to an outstanding catch by Riki Wessels at first slip, though the bowler’s sportsmanship left a lot to be desired in a very vocal send off for the skipper.
Earlier in proceedings, an eighth-wicket stand of 108 between Pattinson and Luke Fletcher helped to take the visitors to 305, a lead of 143, with Fletcher falling agonisingly short of his maiden first-class century.
He equalled the career-best score he made away to Hampshire in 2009 but fell in bizarre circumstances, being sent back by Pattison before contriving to slip & lose hit bat mid-pitch, leaving him well shy of his ground.
The 28-year-old, on three overnight, he completed his fourth first-class 50 just before lunch, then resisted a lengthy spell from Mark Wood.
When Durham briefly turned to Ryan Pringle’s off breaks, Fletcher lofted him for a straight four then swept his 13th boundary to reach 90.
He added two singles before his 153-ball innings cruelly ended.
Wood, who bowled for most of the afternoon, had previously gone closest to breaking the partnership when Pringle was unable to hang on to a sharp chance at second slip with Pattinson on 23.
The Australian went on to make 59 before skying an attempted hook off a Graham Onions bouncer when the new ball was taken. Harry Gurney was bowled by Chris Rushworth, who finished with 4/54.
With tea taken between innings, the extra allocation to make up for the first day’s loss of overs left a long final session.
Jake Ball struck in the first and third overs. Stephen Cook edged to first slip then a ball which climbed off a length had Jack Burnham caught behind.
When Michael Richardson shuffled into a Fletcher in-swinger, Durham looked in deep trouble before Collingwood and Coughlin each combined with Jennings to haul their side into a lead.
Close, Day One: Nottinghamshire (96/4; Patel 43*) trail Durham (162; Poynter 65; Fletcher 3/23) by 66 runs
Fourteen wickets fell on the opening day of the Specsavers County Championship match in front of a bumper crowd at Emirates Riverside.
The season’s first day of competitive action at Emirates Riverside attracted a crowd of 2,190, most of whom would be heartened by Nottinghamshire slumping to seven for three in reply to 162.
But Samit Patel and Michael Lumb had advanced the total to 85 by the time bad light halted play and after an 80-minute break they went back on for eight overs.
In the third of those Mark Wood skidded one through to have Lumb lbw on the back foot, but two overs later they called it a day. Nottinghamshire were 96/4 with Patel on 43.
Other than a brief period in early afternoon, when Durham wicketkeeper Stuart Poynter launched an entertaining counter-attack which brought him a maiden 50 off 45 balls, the floodlights were on all day.
But the pitch appeared to be easing as Nottinghamshire’s fourth-wicket pair batted with increasing comfort. The only threat during a short burst from Wood came when Lumb edged him just wide of third slip.
After Nottinghamshire dispensed with the toss James Pattinson was the pick of the bowlers as he, the returning Jake Ball and Luke Fletcher took three wickets each.
Bowling round the wicket to Keaton Jennings, who made 28, Pattinson shaped the ball into the left-hander then nipped it away off the pitch to hit off stump.
Ball had the other opener, Stephen Cook, caught behind for two when trying to withdraw his bat. He also brought one back to have Paul Collingwood lbw for three as Durham lost three wickets for two runs to slip to 71 for seven.
Poynter followed a couple of early edges with a mixture of bold strokes and improvisation. By guiding short balls from Pattinson over Chris Read he obliged the wicketkeeper to post a backstop.
By the time Fletcher bowled Poynter for 65 he had put on 58 for the last wicket with Chris Rushworth, who then bowled Jake Libby and pinned Alex Hales lbw for a five-ball duck.
Greg Smith edged Graham Onions to first slip and both bowlers had a big appeal for lbw turned down early in Patel’s innings before he began to drive and pull with increasing authority.