Durham v Nottinghamshire: Match report & scores

Match scores (Emirates Riverside) 

Nottinghamshire won by nine wickets

Durham 1st inns: 162 all out (Poynter 54; Fletcher 3-23, Ball 3-36, Pattinson 3-43)
Durham 2nd inns: 250 all out (Jennings 102, Collingwood 40, Coughlin 36; Ball 3-80, Pattinson 2-41)

Nottinghamshire 1st inns: 305 all out (Fletcher 92, Pattinson 59, Patel 45; Rushworth 4-54)
Nottinghamshire 2nd inns: 110-1 (Smith 60*, Libby 39; Coughlin 1-26)

Day four report

Nottinghamshire coasted to a nine-wicket win over Durham at Chester-le-Street to move 89 points clear of their opponents in the fledgling Specsavers County Championship Division Two table.

With the pitch looking flatter than at any time in the match, Greg Smith and Jake Libby had few problems in picking off the runs to take Nottinghamshire to the brink of victory.

They were only 15 short of the 108 target when Libby was yorked by Paul Coughlin for 39, but Smith remained unbeaten on 60.

He finished the match by clipping Coughlin sweetly off his toes through mid-wicket for his ninth four.

Batting had looked relatively straightforward from the outset, but after Mark Wood had helped to add 43 for the eighth wicket, Durham's last three wickets went down tamely to leave Keaton Jennings unbeaten on 102.

He began last season with a century in both innings at home to Somerset and went on to hit four more hundreds at the Riverside and one at Edgbaston in setting a Durham record of seven in a season.

A century on his Test debut in India followed and he was watched by selector James Whitaker on Monday.

It was the second successive Durham home game in which Jennings had carried his bat following his 201 not out against Surrey last September.

Resuming on 201 for seven, all went well for Durham until Wood fell for 21, pulling Luke Fletcher straight to mid-wicket with the total on 244.

Wood had hit two high-class cover drives and an even more impressive cut for four off Fletcher.

Jennings, on 82 overnight, moved into the 90s when he pulled Jake Ball through square leg for his first boundary of the day then did well to dig out a swift yorker from James Pattinson.

When Harry Gurney replaced Pattinson, Jennings pulled the left-armer's first ball in front of mid-wicket for four. He was on 99 when Wood departed, but ran Gurney to third man to reach his hundred off 201 balls.

Graham Onions' reluctance to get into line saw him bowled by Gurney, then Chris Rushworth pushed his first ball into the covers and failed to beat Ball's throw in going back for a second.

Other than a couple of edges, which did not go to hand, plus a very quick bouncer from Wood, there were no scares for Smith and Libby.

Day three report

Only 50 minutes of play was possible on the third day of Durham's home match against Nottinghamshire in Division Two of the Specsavers County Championship.

Strongly placed to make it two wins out of two, Nottinghamshire took two wickets but were frustrated by rain and there is a danger of more on the final day, when Durham will resume on 201 for seven, 58 ahead.

Play began at 12.25pm with lunch scheduled for just over an hour later, but the rain returned at 1.15pm and persisted all afternoon.

Keaton Jennings continued to show his Test class, moving on from 62 to 82 after needing to change his bat when the day's second ball from James Pattinson leapt awkwardly.

With no addition to the overnight 162 for five, Ryan Pringle blocked Jake Ball's first four balls then drove loosely across the line and was bowled.

Jennings drove successive balls to the boundary on either side of the wicket in Ball's second over.

A fierce cut off Pattinson also flew to the rope then Stuart Poynter took 10 runs off a Ball over, helped by a four through the vacant third slip area, but the wicketkeeper fell for 17 when he lost his off stump to Harry Gurney. 

Day two report

The agony of Luke Fletcher being run out for 92 could not detract from a dominant performance by Nottinghamshire on the second day of their Specsavers County Championship match against Durham.

The nightwatchman's eighth-wicket stand of 108 with James Pattinson helped to take the visitors to 305, a lead of 143, and in a 47-over final session Durham recovered from 24 for three to close on 162 for five.

Keaton Jennings remained unbeaten on 62 after a stand of 71 with Paul Collingwood was ended by a sensational catch at first slip by Riki Wessels.

He leapt to cling on left-handed high above his head as a fired-up Pattinson had his reward after being convinced he had Collingwood lbw in his previous over.

Pattinson returned to administer another short, sharp shock before the close and this time his lbw appeal was upheld to end Paul Coughlin's breezy knock of 36.

Fletcher never looked like getting out as he equalled the career-best score he made away to Hampshire in 2009.

He manoeuvred his stocky frame solidly into line to block the good balls, evaded the short ones intended to unsettle him, and drove with an authority which belied his first-class average of 14.46.

On three overnight, he completed his fourth first-class 50 just before lunch, then resisted a lengthy spell from Mark Wood.

When Durham briefly turned to Ryan Pringle's off breaks, Fletcher lofted him for a straight four then swept his 13th boundary to reach 90.

He added two singles before his 153-ball innings cruelly ended after he slipped when trying to turn back from halfway down the pitch.

Had he not also dropped his bat he would have regained his ground at the non-striker's end.

Pattinson had played the ball to deep gully and took a stride forward before changing his mind with Fletcher well on his way as Jennings fielded the ball.

Wood, who bowled for most of the afternoon, had previously gone closest to breaking the partnership when Pringle was unable to hang on to a sharp chance at second slip with Pattinson on 23.

The Australian went on to make 59 before skying an attempted hook off a Graham Onions bouncer when the new ball was taken.

Harry Gurney was bowled by Chris Rushworth, who finished with four for 54.

With tea taken between innings, the extra allocation to make up for the first day's loss of overs left a marathon final session.

Jake Ball struck in the first and third overs. South African Stephen Cook went for nought when he edged to first slip then a ball which climbed off a length had Jack Burnham caught behind.

When Michael Richardson shuffled into a Fletcher in-swinger a two-day finish looked likely. But Jennings proved as immoveable as he did for most of last season.

Day one report

Durham endured a chastening start to life in Division Two of the Specsavers County Championship as Nottinghamshire underlined their promotion credentials on day one at Emirates Riverside.

Having sat out the first week of fixtures, this was Durham's chance to showcase their fighting spirit after a turbulent close season that saw them accept a financial bailout from the ECB, but also the demotion and punitive points deductions that came with it.

As a result they began their campaign 48 points in the red and 70 behind their opponents, who beat Leicestershire at a canter last week.

But Nottinghamshire, relegated in more conventional circumstances last term, were too good to be compliant extras in the north-east narrative and dismissed the hosts for 162 before reaching 96 for four in reply.

More than 2,000 fans turned up to support Durham, though new chairman Sir Ian Botham was not in attendance, and a sense of indignation hung in the air.

As well as murmurs of discontent from those in the stands and the odd, a large banner was fixed in place at the Lumley End reading "betrayed cheated but not defeated", not yet at least.

Already aggrieved, they may have been further frustrated that their first taste of life in the second tier should be against an opposition attack of true international calibre.

In the absence of Stuart Broad, rested on England orders, James Pattinson was the standout, a hard-bitten Australian seamer with Test pedigree and pace aplenty. He did not strike first - that honour went to Jake Ball, who took Stephen Cook's edge off an attempted leave - and he did not win his duel with Durham's top-scorer Stuart Poynter, who made 65 before falling to Luke Fletcher.

But when Pattinson was involved the game was at its most vibrant. He scattered the stumps of Keaton Jennings with a beauty, after the England newcomer pieced together 28 runs in tricky conditions, and sent the stumps tumbling again with a yorker well beyond the pay-grade of Graham Onions.

That he eventually settled for figures of three for 43 - costlier than Ball or Fletcher, who also took three apiece - was down to Poynter's gutsy counter-attack.

He came to the crease at 69 for six, Ball having removed Paul Collingwood and Ryan Pringle with successive deliveries, and shepherded the side to a more respectable total than they could have hoped for.

The Ireland international hit 12 fours in his breezy 59-ball stay, including some eye-catching improvisations against Pattinson, that left Nottinghamshire deploying the seldom-seen backstop.

By the time his, and Durham's, resistance ended there was room for nine overs before tea - ample time for three more wickets.

Onions and Chris Rushworth struck with consecutive deliveries to see off Greg Smith and Jake Libby, before Rushworth sent Alex Hales back for a five-ball duck.

The domination of ball over bat ended ended abruptly in the evening session as Samit Patel (43no) and Michael Lumb took their time to 85 for three, and an apparent early close for bad light, with a measure of control.

Surprisingly, the umpires led the teams back on at 6.35pm and fit-again seamer Mark Wood maximised his unexpected chance by pinning Lumb (33) with a shooter.