Durham in hurry to set up victory

Jul 17 2009 by Stuart Rayner, The Journal

IF day one was all about laying foundations, yesterday Durham were in a hurry. Mindful of a particularly unpleasant weather forecast today, they have moved this County Championship game on apace with bat and ball.

After extending their score by 99 runs in less than a session, the Riversiders were able to finish Nottinghamshire’s innings and enforce the follow-on before bad light closed in to end the day.

If some of their batting was a bit more one-day-paced than the more traditional and attritional stuff 24 hours earlier, Durham’s bowlers were content just to put the ball in the right place and let Nottinghamshire do the rest. At times their batting was so negligent it bordered on the criminal. None typified Durham’s disciplined approach better than Stephen Harmison, whose fiery opening spell produced figures of 8-7-1-1.

The 30-year-old did not start the game, dragged from Nottingham to London on Tuesday morning only to be told on Thursday morning England did not need him at Lord’s after all and he could drive back north. When he parked up at Trent Bridge shortly before lunch there was no clean shirt for him, so he had to make do with brother Ben’s beneath his own jumper. It was hardly perfect preparation, but you would never have known.

Mitchell Claydon made way after three with the bat then two maidens as Harmison caught his breath and watched from the pavilion. He continued the good work, stretching the run of dots from that end to 35 before Matt Wood’s single, the first and last run of his spell. Four overs later Wood was caught at short leg for his impudence.

Only when Chris Read came in shortly before tea intent on counter-attacking did Harmison’s figures begin to look mortal. The wicketkeeper not good enough to bat for England was good enough to pull Harmison for four fours. When the bowler switched over the wicket, Read pulled his first ball for six.