Durham – built in the image of their captain, Paul Collingwood – proved once more that they are greater than the sum of their parts and simply know how to get things done by wrapping up an emphatic win over Sussex. This victory, their sixth from eight games, leaves them 29 points clear at the top of Division One before home matches against Yorkshire and Warwickshire, who sit third and second respectively.
Whatever the conditions, whatever the circumstances, Durham seem to find a way. That a margin of 178 runs scarcely did their dominance at Arundel justice tells of the efficiency of their showing. North-eastern title talk may need to step up a notch.
Scott Borthwick typifies Durham’s approach. The cherubic all-rounder – and yes, that is what he remains – is a joy to watch and turned this match not once but twice. At first drop, amid the carnage of Durham’s second-innings tumble to 13 for four, his knowledge of the whereabouts of off-stump and the need to build a lead meant he left plentifully and excellently, yet his 75 still came inside 100 balls.
After lunch on Thursday, as Durham’s seventh bowler, he was every inch as busy, zipping the ball between his hands, then looping it up towards the footmarks and watching it spit out, a whoop and raise of the arms with every one as he took four wickets. Borthwick’s leg-breaks do not come from a deep bag of tricks but he gets marked turn and, crucially, knows how to make life tough for batsmen. Between times he stands at slip, where he has some of the safest hands in the land, captain Collingwood’s first call for counsel.
Borthwick’s colleagues call him “Badger” because that is the contemporary cricketing patois for one who simply loves the game, not the nocturnal omnivore. To watch him here was evidence of its aptness: he is a fizzing, ferreting bundle of cricket-smart energy, Arundel’s plush green outfield not nearly spacious enough for such vim and vigour.
His first three scalps were all dynamism: Luke Wright was fooled in the flight and caught and bowled brilliantly, Borthwick diving to his right; Ajmal Shahzad was deceived when charging and stumped by a distance, while a classic leg-break took George Dockrell’s outside edge. That Collingwood delayed handing the new ball to his seamers for 17 overs tells of the pressure Borthwick and Ryan Pringle – who started the rot with the wicket of the outstanding centurion Luke Wells – had Sussex under.
Sussex’s resumption got off to a poor start, as Ed Joyce feathered John Hastings, probing from around the wicket, to Richardson. A sickly Chris Nash battled for 40 minutes before plopping a Graham Onions delivery that held in the pitch to mid-on but Wells and Wright counterattacked superbly. The latter struck six stunning straight drives for boundaries off Durham’s seamers and brought up his first century of the season shortly before lunch, which Sussex took confidently at 223 for four.
But Durham returned from the break with renewed vitality and, in Borthwick, venom. After his and Pringle’s work, Onions made the collapse five for 29 with the wicket of Steve Magoffin, taken by a sharp Gordon Muchall catch at slip, in the first over of the new ball.
The last pair, Ben Brown – who scored a fine 60 – and Tim Linley resisted manfully for more than an hour, forcing tea to be postponed but never taken, as Borthwick returned to nab Brown lbw. “I’ve always said I much prefer getting four- and five-fors than runs,” said Borthwick, whom the national team would be wise not to forget, “I still think of myself as a leggie and to get through overs and pick up wickets was fantastic.”
For Sussex, who have now lost five in six and are struggling, the return to form of Wells, who batted with wonderful correctness and was perhaps unfortunate to be adjudged caught behind off Pringle, is a bonus, as is their highest Championship total in 10 innings. Also pleasing is that this perfect tree-lined circus of a ground – after a couple of drab puddings and £10,000 worth of investment – has a pitch with life. At different stages it seamed and spun and was fine to bat on as the game wore on.
In Division Two Glamorgan eased to a marvellous win at Guildford, with Graham Wagg needing only five balls to end Surrey’s second innings and complete a collapse of five wickets for four runs in five overs. Unbeaten Glamorgan’s top order then stalked down the 247 required with ease, with Will Bragg anchoring the innings with 83 and Ben Wright scoring 68. Glamorgan, who have played a game fewer, move to 12 points behind second-placed Surrey.
