Durham are on the verge of promotion to LV= Insurance County Championship Division One after defeating Sussex by seven wickets in their clash at Seat Unique Riverside.
The home side required only one wicket to wrap up the Sussex second innings after reducing the visitors to 263 for nine on day three. Fynn Hudson-Prentice and Henry Crocombe defied the Durham seamers for 45 minutes before Matt Parkinson secured the final strike to finish with figures of four for 80, and eight for 138 in the match.
Durham lost three wickets in their chase of 57 as Jack Carson found turn out of the fourth day pitch, ending with figures of three for 15. But, Alex Lees and Ollie Robinson guided their team over the line to secure maximum points from the contest.
Durham need only five points to secure promotion in their next outing, although if Leicestershire fail to beat Sussex next week, the North-East outfit will secure their spot in Division One.
Resuming day four with a slender lead of 24, Sussex needed a special effort from their last-wicket pair to put the pressure back on the home side. Hudson-Prentice and Crocombe frustrated Ben Raine and Matthew Potts with the new ball, fending off their attempts to wrap up the Sussex innings.
Raine almost prised out Crocombe, but his outside edge flew through the vacant gap between slip and gully. Scott Borthwick turned to Matt Parkinson and he got the breakthrough in his second over, ending the stand for 45 as Hudson-Prentice advanced down the wicket and failed to connect with his drive, allowing Robinson to whip off the bails
After bowling out Sussex for 295, the hosts required only 57 runs to secure their sixth win of the season. Carson caused a mild stir in the ranks as bowled Michael Jones before removing Scott Borthwick and David Bedingham in the space of three deliveries. But, the hosts closed out the victory as Ollie Robinson slammed a drive to the fence, taking Durham to the brink of promotion.
Durham are closing in on victory in their LV= Insurance County Championship Division Two clash against Sussex following another dominant performance on day three at Seat Unique Riverside.
Bas de Leede produced an excellent all-round display as he notched his maiden first-class century before he claimed three wickets with the ball. Graham Clark posted his highest first-class score of 128 as Durham posted 505 for nine declared, their highest Championship total against Sussex.
Matthew Potts made immediate inroads into the visitors’ line-up before Matt Parkinson grabbed the vital wicket of Cheteshwar Pujara, opening up the lower order. De Leede removed Oli Carter for a valiant 80 before adding two further strikes to put Durham on the brink. But, Sussex led by Fynn Hudson-Prentice battled on to take the game into the final day with a slender lead of 24.
Already in a commanding 158-run lead at the start of the day, Durham pressed home their advantage through De Leede, who surged towards his maiden first-class century. As Clark did in the previous evening, De Leede cruised through the nineties with back-to-back boundaries against Jayev Unadkat to move into position. After a slight pause on 99, De Leede found the gap through gully to the fence to reach the milestone for the first time from 137 balls.
The Dutchman fell to Henry Crocombe from the next delivery, ending his partnership with Clark for a brilliant 207 that manoeuvred Durham from a strong position to a dominant one. Crocombe did end the innings on a high note with a further three wickets, including Clark for a career-best 128 after he slammed a drive straight to cover. Scott Borthwick called in the final pair with a commanding 239-run lead to give his bowlers a 20-minute spell before lunch.
Tom Clark survived a drop at first slip, but Potts ensured it was not a costly mistake by pinning the left-hander lbw. The England seamer then produced a beauty to remove Tom Haines’ off-stump, leaving the visitors 24 for two. Pujara’s arrival at the crease was a pivotal moment in the game, and after failing in the first innings, the India international was intent on defying the hosts’ victory push.
However, it did not stop the fall of wickets at the other end. Tom Alsop fell to a sharp piece of keeping from Ollie Robinson, while Borthwick claimed a good catch at second slip to remove James Coles, presenting Potts with his third wicket.
Pujara needed help to stem the tide, and Carter offered the foil he required to blunt Durham’s surge through the line-up. Together the two batters held firm throughout the afternoon session through tough spells from Potts and Parkinson.
Pujara worked his way to a patient half-century from 95 balls, while Carter grinded his way to his fifty alongside his skipper for the seventh time of the campaign. But, Pujara’s resistance was ended by a brilliant delivery from Parkinson, who dismissed the India batter for the second time in the game, breaking a partnership of 83 for the sixth wicket.
De Leede then made a decisive impact with the ball following his excellence with the bat earlier in the day. He yorked Carter but was cruelly denied when the ball struck the stumps and failed to dislodge the bails.
But, he preserved and ended Carter’s innings for 80, pinning the wicketkeeper lbw before removing Jack Carson and Aristides Karvelas to edge Durham closer to victory. Hudson-Prentice held up the home side even with the extended half-hour with an unbeaten half-century, guiding Sussex into a narrow lead.
Day 2 Durham 424/5 vs Sussex 266
Alex Lees and Graham Clark scored centuries to manoeuvre Durham into a match-winning position against Sussex on day two of their LV= Insurance County Championship Division Two clash at Seat Unique Riverside.
Lees continued his outstanding form this season with a knock of 103 from 155 balls to provide the foundation of the innings, notching his fifth Championship century of the season. He shared a stand of 146 with Scott Borthwick, who notched a gritty fifty in support of the left-hander.
Clark capitalised on a weary Sussex bowling attack late in the day with a flurry of boundaries to notch his second hundred of the term. Ollie Robinson and Bas de Leede compounded Durham’s position of strength with half-centuries of their own.
At the close, the home side moved into a dominant 158-run lead with five wickets remaining with Clark and De Leede still at the crease.
In need of early wickets to shift the momentum of the game, Sussex did not have to wait long for the breakthrough as Aristides Karvelas found Michael Jones’ outside edge from the fourth ball of the day. But, Lees settled into his rhythm to counterattack for the hosts, taking three boundaries from Karvelas’ second over.
The former England opener eased his way to his fifth fifty of the campaign from 72 balls, featuring two impressive strikes against Karvelas and Jack Carson that cleared the rope. Borthwick offered a reassuring complement at the other end, although he was not quite as fluent. Borthwick survived an inside edge and a knick through the slip cordon before finding his timing to post his third fifty of the campaign.
Lees and Borthwick shared a stand worth 146 for the second wicket before Carson found bounce out of the surface to prise out the Durham skipper for 56. Jaydev Unadkat then claimed the important wicket of David Bedingham, who picked out square-leg with a loose shot.
Lees remained unfettered at the other end and continued his outstanding Championship form by registering his fifth century of the season, handing the England selectors yet another reminder of his talent.
However, he was becalmed after reaching three figures through a spell of accurate bowling from Unadkat. The introduction of Carson brought the mistake from the left-hander as he steered a slog-sweep straight to Hudson-Prentice on the leg-side boundary.
Robinson worked to keep Durham in charge of the contest, having not played a competitive game in six weeks after being left out of the Northern Superchargers’ line-up for their Hundred matches. The wicket-keeper showed no signs of rust and produced a fluent knock of 67 from 66 balls, including 10 fours and one maximum before he was pinned lbw by Carson.
Durham still had work ahead of them to turn a solid position into a match-winning opportunity. Clark and De Leede absorbed pressure initially from Carson and James Coles before the arrival of the new ball.
The duo then pressed the accelerator to push the hosts into a 100-run lead producing a flurry of boundaries to punish an ailing attack, adding 77 from opening 13 overs from the new ball.
Clark earned his reward for a solid defence and brought up his fourth half-century of the term, while De Leede was not far behind him in recording his third fifty, sharing an unbeaten stand of 159.
Clark upped the ante in the closing overs and surged through the nineties with three successive boundaries to record a deserved ton, capping an excellent day for the hosts in their bid to secure promotion.