Graham Hardcastle
Adil Rashid has picked up his second wicket of the innings and his third of the day. Paul Collingwood, caught at slip by Tim Bresnan driving, departed to leave Durham at 168-3 in the 48th over. They have since advanced to 195-3 in the 54th over, with Mark Stoneman posting his second hundred of the season so far. He has got there off 155 balls with 13 fours and a pulled six off Bresnan.
Richard Gibson
Wickets keep falling at Trent Bridge and Notts are effectively 1-2 after Michael Lumb flicked to the on-side where Joe Clarke produced one of the catches of the season to grasp a ball that appeared to have gone past him. That blow came shortly after a physical one for Lumb, who took one amidships from Charlie Morris and stayed down for some time. Half a dozen overs later and the apparently in-form Brendan Taylor was out when he played down the wrong line to Ed Barnard and was pinned lbw.
Graham Hardcastle
Yorkshire have struck twice in the latter stages of the afternoon, getting the wickets of Keaton Jennings and Scott Borthwick. Adil Rashid got Jennings caught at silly mid-off for 41 before Steve Patterson had Borthwick, who completed a first-innings 54 earlier in the day, caught behind. Durham have advanced to 134-2 at tea, with Mark Stoneman on 75 and Paul Collingwood four.
Vithushan Ehantharajah
A solid half-century from Sean Terry. It’s not been easy to watch but that’s no slight on Terry. He has survived a barrage from James Harris and some short-stuff from Toby Roland-Jones, which came with some free verbals, too. It must have been satisfying, then, when he hammered a short-ball from TRJ, sweetly, through square leg for four.
It’s not lived a charmed life, nor has his existence been anything more than survival. A punch through point off James Franklin took him to 50 from 153 balls, which has taken more than three hours of his life. In this heat, it must feel like an age. Then again, he is form Perth. This is probably the closest he’ll get to winter.
It’s awkward but necessary stuff from Hampshire. They are still 54 behind and only eating time to save themselves. Given the rate of scoring, it seems unlikely that they will be able to set something substantial for Middlesex to chase. But it’s been a decent fightback nonetheless.
Richard Gibson
Things have levelled up somewhat at Trent Bridge with both teams now effectively operating with 10 men. Gidman will play no further part today following that blow which he took when the visitors were 204-3. The demise from that point was rapid as Hilfenhaus and Hutton were rewarded for their perseverance. Fittingly, Carter wrapped the innings up when he had Saeed Ajmal lbw. Notts go in a second time only 43 runs in arrears, a position they most definitely would have taken if offered first thing this morning.
Graham Hardcastle
Mark Stoneman, 67 not out, and Keaton Jennings (37) have shared Durham’s first century opening partnership of the season, and what a time to do it with the leaders in trouble. At 107-0, they are still 242 runs behind with just over four sessions left in the match, so the task in hand is still a tough one. Yorkshire remain favourites to win this match, but a draw has been brought into focus more during the past couple of hours. Andrew Gale has used all of his recognised bowlers in this innings, including Will Rhodes. The seam bowling all-rounder did not bowl in the first innings. Adil Rashid is currently wheeling away from the Lumley End, and I suspect he will do so for a good few overs.
Vithushan Ehantharajah
I’m a firm believer that a good goal, whether a team move or a howitzer from range, is made better by a keeper’s despairing dive. To beat the last line of defence with precision – by placement or force – adds to the majesty of the finish. The same applies to a bowler uprooting a batsman’s stumps, and James Harris just produced a “bowled” dismissal so perfect that you’d treat it as your first born. It was in a spell of real class, one in which he asked questions that neither Sean Terry, Michael Carberry or James Vince had answers for.
While Terry survived, Carberry nicked Harris through to Simpson, who did well to take a smart catch diving to his left, before Vince was comprehensively beaten. On the face of it, Vince’s defence was perfect: foot forward, head with it, full face of the bat smiling at the umpire. And yet, as he held the pose for a few seconds, your eye was drawn to the bit of timber dancing off behind him in the distance. It turned out to be off-stump: Harris, bowling from the Nursery End, had got one to keep its path up the slope and find passage between bat and pad.
You can tell that Vince didn’t want to turn around, but with the pavilion behind him, there was only really one route back to the hutch. Harri’s five over spell after lunch read 5-0-15-2 and he has been replaced by Tim Murtagh, who has already beaten the outside edges of both Will Smith and Terry. Meanwhile, Ollie Rayner is doing a good job at the Pavilion End, getting the odd ball to grip and bite off the cracking Lord’s surface. More importantly, he is holding up an end, meaning James Franklin can rotate his seamers and give them adequate rest in this baking heat.
Updated
Graham Hardcastle
It has been an encouraging start to their second innings for Durham. They have reached 48-0 after 12 overs thanks to some decisive strokeplay from Mark Stoneman and Keaton Jennings. With the pitch proving relatively easy to bat on and the weather being as warm as it is, bowling Durham out for a second time was always likely to be a tougher proposition for Yorkshire, who have already used five bowlers in this innings.
Off the field, Yorkshire have just announced that a new players’ balcony will be ready in August. Dickie Bird is funding the renovations to the dressing room area at Headingley, although work has been delayed. When the plan was initially revealed in March, the balcony was expected to be complete by late April in time for the first home match against Warwickshire. As things stand, there is a only viewing gallery behind glass.
Richard Gibson
Bit of an incident here at Trent Bridge. Alex Gidman was hit on the helmet by a Ben Hilfenhaus bouncer in the first over after lunch and received attention from the physio before resuming. However, there appeared to be a delayed reaction to the blow and in the next over he pulled out of facing a delivery from Samit Patel, slowly veering into a hunched position just off the pitch and appearing to be losing his balance. The physios of both teams were soon on the scene and escorted him off. He has retired hurt on 13 in a score of 204-3.
Lunchtime update from Lord's: guest report by Matthew Smith
It is one of the oldest mysteries of cricket, but always seems to ring true – bad balls get wickets. James Harris looked to have bowled a keen four-over spell for no reward except a couple of near lbws, until the final ball before lunch at Lord’s, when a loosener into Jimmy Adams’s legs was gloved down the leg-side, where John Simpson took a simple catch. This leaves Hampshire on 44 for one, trailing the hosts by 110 runs.
What will be most frustrating for Dale Blenkenstein is that Adams, after a first-innings duck, looked composed at the crease, a couple of lovely straight drives for four bringing applause from crowd and press box alike. His 28 from 58 balls certainly looked a lot more straightforward than Sean Terry’s contribution of 14, which was interspersed with missed swipes down leg, and he was the source of most of the serious lbw claims.
Certainly Harris has been the most impressive bowler, as first change for the tight but unpenetrative Murtagh. He came close to two wickets in his first three balls, with his first squirming just wide of third slip, before an lbw claim that was cried by the entire team, but which left the umpire unmoved. Meanwhile, the prospect of the hottest day of the year, and the sniff of the home side winning in three days, has not attracted the numbers to the ground, with the crowd pretty threadbare this Tuesday afternoon. Presumably they’re all at the tennis.
Richard Gibson
Andy Carter has returned to the Nottinghamshire attack, which is a fair effort in the circumstances. He is certainly not operating at full tilt yet he did create a half-chance from his fifth delivery from the pavilion end when Tom Fell’s thick edge through gully was touched by Michael Lumb’s fingertips. Although the rangy seamer was allowed to bowl from 11.55am – after being off the field for 55 minutes yesterday evening – he was held back a further half-hour by captain Chris Read.
But his introduction did coincide with a breakthrough from the other end as Richard Oliver cruelly departed for 99, adjudged to have inside-edged Samit Patel’s left-arm spin. Nevertheless, it was a good effort from the left-hander Oliver, who put some patchy form behind him to guide the visitors to within sight of Notts’ 240 at 160-3. Incidentally, the home team have two overseas players on the field today with their Twenty20 import Dan Christian on as substitute fielder in place of the injured Luke Fletcher. There is nothing in the competition rules that states subs have to be English-qualified. In fact, as I have discovered in the past neither does it stipulate that they have to be human, which throws up all kinds of possibilities, doesn’t it?
Graham Hardcastle
Durham have been bowled out for 208. Jack Brooks struck twice in an over, as Tim Bresnan had done earlier, to uproot Jamie Harrison’s middle and off stumps and get Chris Rushworth caught behind with a delivery that lifted from just short of a length, leaving the score at 195-9 after 63 overs. Ryan Pringle’s career best 69 not out ensured the league leaders at least managed to clinch a batting bonus point before Adil Rashid trapped Graham Onions lbw to wrap up the innings half an hour before lunch. Durham are 349 runs behind and, not surprisingly, have been asked to follow-on.
Vithushan Ehantharajah
All in all, a good morning’s work for Middlesex.
The first over of the day was the last for bonus points and Toby Roland-Jones’ dab behind square on the leg-side saw the hosts pass 300 for a third batting point. Roland-Jones is one you can throw in the “No Mug With The Bat” folder and while he’s much more at ease when swinging from the hip, his contribution of a mild-mannered 14 was useful.
When he was yorked by Jackson Bird – middle stump uprooted – it was down to Ollie Rayner to shepherd Tim Murtagh for the remainder of the innings. In doing so, Rayner registered his first half-century of the season. He’s in a peculiar position: a spinner who needs a steady contribution of runs to justify his place in the side. It’s not too dissimilar to the situation Hampshire’s Liam Dawson finds himself in.
Speaking last night, the Hampshire coach Dale Benkenstein revealed that the club are to let the batsman and left-arm spinner go out on loan. Benkenstein said that it is a move he hopes will improve Dawson’s first-class average, given the 25-year-old has yet to register a fifty this season, despite having played all but two of Hampshire’s County Championship matches this season.
“It’s been disappointing as Liam shows a lot of promise, but the numbers are just not there with the bat,” he told BBC Radio Solent. “Ideally, we would like him to be in the top six as a batter, but you’re doing a disservice to other players in the second XI who are putting up good enough scores.”
Rayner’s innings was brought to an end when he was bowled by 18-year-old Brad Wheal, who in turn returned his best first-class figures of 4-101. Middlesex’s first innings lead is 154 and Hampshire, on a wearing pitch that is set to bake in the 30-degree heat, have a big job on their hands to bat time.
Graham Hardcastle
Famous last words indeed. Tim Bresnan has just picked up the wickets of Scott Borthwick for 54 and John Hastings for a golden duck with successive deliveries, and Durham are now 169-7. Jonny Bairstow took both catches behind the stumps, although the second was a juggling effort. The Bresnan and Bairstow partnership continues to work wonders for Yorkshire.
Graham Hardcastle
Healthy first half-hour of play for Durham, who have moved onto 163-5 and Scott Borthwick to 52 not out. Ryan Sidebottom and Adil Rashid opened the bowling, with Rashid bowling three tidy overs for five runs. He is being watched by the England national selector James Whitaker, who has been here for the last couple of days. Steve Patterson is now operating from the Lumley End having replaced Rashid. Borthwick and Ryan Pringle have now shared 82 inside 28 overs for the sixth wicket and are looking secure. Famous last words?
Richard Gibson
Some interesting news to deliver. Andy Carter, one of Notts’ two fast-bowling crocks, has been on the field this morning despite Newell effectively ruling him out of bowling again in the match last night. The side strain, which caused him to leave the field after sending down just 11 deliveries, is in the same place as the one he suffered while farmed out to Glamorgan earlier in the season. So while it would still be a surprise to see him return to the attack, you would have to presume that is the purpose of him being out there. So far it has been the last seamers standing, Ben Hilfenhaus and Brett Hutton, sharing the workload. Worcestershire 101-2.
Richard Gibson
Welcome to county cricket’s hottest blog on the hottest day of the season so far, and be prepared because things are only going to get hotter. There is no doubt that champions Yorkshire are in control of the biggest contest of the round against leaders Durham at Chester-le-Street, where Graham Hardcastle has set up camp. He was no doubt working up a sweat keeping up with all the records yesterday courtesy of messrs Bresnan and Bairstow. The latter has turned the Riverside into a home from home with his recent performances: the unbeaten 219 yesterday, the man-of-the-match innings for England against New Zealand 10 days ago, 95 in last year’s corresponding Championship fixture and a maiden Twenty20 hundred in the NatWest Blast last July. Today, 408 is the magic number. It is what Durham require to avoid the follow-on.
I am concentrating on the other end of Division One. Sympathy had to go out to Mick Newell, Nottinghamshire’s director of cricket, last night after watching his side capitulate again and then lose two of the bowlers in a re-shuffled attack. News of the results of the scan to Luke Fletcher’s hamstring and the severity of Andy Carter’s abdominal strain as and when I get it. On the field, Notts’ three-man attack will be doing their utmost to restrict relegation rivals Worcestershire, who are 89-2 in response to the hosts’ 240.
At Lord’s, Vithushan Ehantharajah will be reporting on another of the strugglers Hampshire against a Middlesex team showing much greater resolve than in recent seasons. They have lost just once so far, away at Headingley, and have a handy 122-run advantage with two wickets intact.
Meanwhile, a sextet of young cricketers have been revealed as shortlist nominations for this year’s LV= Breakthrough Player award, the accolade which recognises emerging young talent in the County Championship. They are Jack Leaning (Yorkshire), Ollie Robinson (Sussex), Craig Miles (Gloucestershire), Tom Curran (Surrey), Luke Wood (Nottinghamshire) and Alex Davies (Lancashire).
The nominees were selected by a panel of England and Wales Cricket Board performance director David Parsons, former England player and LV= ambassador Mark Butcher and Yorkshire coach Jason Gillespie. Two wildcard picks to be added to the shortlist in August, giving any players who hit a good run of late form a chance. The winner will be decided by public vote, and you can have your say in it here.
Graham Hardcastle
Good morning from sunny Durham, where Yorkshire are chasing a win and top spot in the Championship table after eight matches. With Durham at 140-5 replying to 557-6 declared, the champions could even wrap up a three-day win for the second week running having sent Notts packing last week.
The last four times Durham have conceded 400, they have lost. The match that broke that sequence was at Headingley last July when Yorkshire made 426 and had to settle for a draw.
Ryan Pringle and Scott Borthwick gave the hosts some respite with an unbeaten half-century stand last night for the sixth wicket on a pitch which the Yorkshire camp believe is good for batting, if a little slow. Dickie Bird has been out in the middle assessing the track. He was up in the press box earlier in the match saying that the winner of this match will go on and win the Championship. Looks like his presidency will yield back-to-back titles, then.
On other matters, Yorkshire’s Jack Leaning has been shortlisted as one of six players for the LV= Breakthrough Player award. Leaning, aged 21, has scored 685 runs, including three hundreds this year, and only James Hildreth and Luke Wright have scored more runs than him in Division One. Borthwick, 35 not out overnight, could also go beyond him today. He has 669 Championship runs this summer.
Our writers will be here shortly. In the meantime, here’s Graham Hardcastle’s report of Yorkshire’s record-breaking day against Durham yesterday.
Never mind nudging the selectors. This was an almighty shove from Jonny Bairstow as he and Tim Bresnan helped to put Yorkshire in control at the halfway stage and in record-breaking fashion. Bairstow posted the second double century of his career and this best of 219 took his tally of runs to 636 in eight Championship innings and his average to an eye-catching 106. That was only just a portion of a dreamy day for the statisticians, however.
Bairstow and Bresnan completed their five-hour partnership of 366 inside 81 overs during the latter stages of the afternoon and Andrew Gale opted to declare. Having recovered their team from 191 for six shortly after tea on day one, they recorded the third-highest seventh-wicket stand in first-class history and the best ever in county cricket, beating the 344 shared by the Sussex pair Kumar Shri Ranjitsinhji and Billy Newham against Essex at Leyton in 1902.
Their partnership was also the highest on this ground and the best against Durham, while it was Yorkshire’s fifth-highest first-class stand of all time for any wicket. The top four were all for the first wicket. Meanwhile Yorkshire became the first team in the Championship to pass 500 in an innings this summer.
