Durham all-rounder James Weighell knew his side were always in with a chance – even before his incredible seven-wicket haul sealed an historic win over Leicestershire.
Weighell took the last six wickets to finish with 7/32 as the visitors were bowled out for 101 chasing 148, making it Durham’s maiden first-class victory after being asked to follow-on.
The Stokesley man also played a crucial role with the bat, adding runs with Barry McCarthy as Durham eked out a 147-run lead after Gavin Griffiths decimated the middle order post-lunch.
But Weighell knew that anything was possible with runs on the board.
“If you can get the one wicket you know you’ve got a chance of the lower lads coming in who’ve got a lot of overs in their legs and a pitch that’s doing what it was doing,” Weighell said.
We managed to get a score, which we knew was a chance with the way the pitch was behaving later on with our batting. Even with their batting in the first innings there was a few shooting low and nipping around.
“We knew if we could get something on the board to bowl at we could have a good chance of going at it and luckily here we are now, winning by about 50 runs. It was ideal in the end.”
Incredible game! Thanks everyone for the messages, they are much appreciated! however @GrahamClark16 has out-shadowed everything with his helmet removal at the end ? https://t.co/g56cRS9A93
— James Weighell (@JamesWeighell) May 7, 2018
The all-rounder removed dangerman Michael Carberry before claiming the key eighth wicket of Neil Dexter, the Leicestershire man who marshalled the tail so well in the first innings.
There was more pressure on Weighell after Chris Rushworth left the field with injury after taking three of the four wickets, leaving his fellow paceman to do the damage therein.
“Once I was bowling I was never going to give the ball away as long as Colly [Paul Collingwood] didn’t rip it out of my hands. It was perfect for me.
“Dexter was probably my favourite one, because he was looking like the one who was going to get away with all his edges and all his good shots as well.
“We were ecstatic when we got in the changing rooms and I haven’t had many feelings like that. That was one of the better days on the cricket field by a long way.”