Reasons to be cheerful, not really.

posted by John Winn

Having thought a visit to The Riverside the least likely option for yesterday's cricket watching, an offer to give me a lift if I could make my way to Darlington saw me driving up the A1 at 9:30 and my friend Alan Pinkney and I were able to watch the opening overs from the comfort of the members' lounge fortified by bacon sandwiches.The morning proved a disaster for Durham. Starting the day on 55 for 3 it was felt that if they could bat for two sessions they could establish a lead of a hundred runs which, in what seemed likely to be a low scoring match, would place them in a strong position. As it happened survival for one session proved too much and Notts began their second innings shortly before lunch. Beginning with Benkenstein's dismissal after just ten minutes play Durham lost wickets at regular and frequent intervals to be bowled out for 129, a deficit of 32. Whilst it was clear that batting was not an easy prospect Durham did not help their cause with some poor shot selection. Indeed although it is barely the middle of April and only the second day of Durham's championship campaign, when the awards are distributed in September it will be a surprise if Blackwell's yahoo does not receive several nominations for bad shot of the season. I hope I see nothing worse.
After lunch the sun shone periodically and Notts, especially Alex Hales, made batting look easy. Some of Durham's bowling was little better than their batting. The chief culprit here was Claydon, who had bowled so well on Thursday. Perhaps dazzled by his glowing reviews in the morning's Northern Echo he served up ten overs that yielded fifty one runs for no return. Blackwell compensated a little for his pre lunch efforts by putting the brakes on Notts' progress and picking up two wickets.By the close Notts lead by 263 with six second innings wickets in hand.
As I write this at ten o'clock on Saturday morning it is raining outside and I am informed it is the same in County Durham.. The forecast for tomorrow is better, if you ignore the bit about snow, and it is hard to imagine that enough play could be lost to save this game for the home side. A Notts win would build on their victory over Worcestershire last week while Durham would face the prospect of successive away games with just three points in the bag.
On the positive side a full day's play was possible yesterday and the sun shone at times, but even when it did the air was still chilled. The national forecast for today includes terms like 'scattered','will intensify', 'chance of hail or thunder','turning wintry', and 'may fall as sleet or snow', hardly likely to induce many to make the trip to Chester le Street, or cricket anywhere else. Just in case you are feeling a little despondent, and I won't mention yesterday's events at Headingley, how about this for a thrilling prospect? My afternoon will be spent watching a football match between the teams who occupy 22nd and 24th positions in the Blue Square Conference. The latter are Bath City who are already relegated and the hosts are Darlington who even if they win,and they haven't managed that for four months, probably will have their relegation confirmed today. All this in a stadium filled to less that 5% of its capacity. Can't wait but lots of others can and will.