As good as it gets

posted by John Winn

Durham started the day favourites with Lancashire, already two down overnight, chasing the highest ever total to win a match at The Riverside, and they don't have Joe Root. Things started well for Durham with Khawaja soon on his way and Prince not far behind, although he seemed to think he should be allowed to stay. 74 for 4 and the target must have seemed a long way off but in the best batting conditions of the match and the best weather of the season Croft and Buttler changed the whole complexion of the game to the point where not long after lunch the game was firmly in Lancashire's hands. The headline for this posting was already in my mind: Sun makes Red Rose bloom.

 

 

Then came what the Finchale end voted their champagne moment, a beautifully judged catch by Muchall in the deep which saw Croft gone for 72. Enter Tom Smith, the man in form with both bat and ball, but his dismissal to the persevering Hastings saw things turn back towards Durham and with  Chapple and Hogg falling in quick succession we took tea at 276 for 8 and a Lancashire supporter  near  me said she had always known they wouldn't win. Game over then? Not a bit of it for Kabir Ali batted calmly, Stokes strayed down leg side to leave Mustard helpless to prevent extras and the 64 needed at tea was quickly halved. The remaining Durham supporters went rather quiet, some had gone at tea thinking it was in the bag, and some well before that thinking the bag was a red one.

Hastings sent our spirits soaring again when Jet Jennings caught Ali close in: 31 needed Buttler 97 not out, enter Kerrigan. He stayed long enough to see Buttler reach his 100, although a better throw from Stoneman would have run him out, but then Admiral Collingwood took the new ball, handed it to Rushworth and four balls later Kerrigan was lbw and joy was unconfined amongst the Durham faithful, who had not seen their team win since they clinched the championship nine months ago. Buttler had finally run out of partners but it was significant that while his first fifty had taken 51 balls his second had taken 80 and here credit should go to Collingwood who had set fields to staunch the flow of boundaries that had threatened a finish before tea. Durham were happy to give the Lancashire wicketkeeper singles which made him the junior in his partnerships with Smith, Chapple and Ali
.

The 22 points yesterday's win gave Durham lifted them out the bottom two and after two pints of Golden XPA in my local last night my eyes turned towards the top of the table: only 27 points behind Notts with a game in hand. More seriously Sussex are next at The Riverside on Sunday and depending on the outcome of events at Arundel today may be just ahead or just below Durham: either way we are promised another close game but the blood pressure could do without another afternoon like yesterday's. Blast off is at 11:00.