Durham v Somerset: Day four close
SOMERSET drew the match and lost the County Championship title in dramatic circumstances this afternoon.
Durham ended the season with a draw after the visitors failed in a stiff run chase, but the drama was elsewhere as Nottinghamshire sneaked the extra bonus point they needed to finish the season level on points with Somerset, and claim the £500,000 prize money by virtue of more wins.
Bowling the Riversiders out for 320 left the match - and therefor the title - delicately poised. 181 to win off 17 overs was always going to be a tough ask but the Twenty20 finalists did have Marcus Trescothick and Craig Kieswetter in their arsenal.
Pegged back by the canny bowling of former team-mate Ian Blackwell, the pair were unable to get their team off to the necessary flier.
After an afternoon session of slow grind, the game exploded into life after tea. Somerset mopped up the last three Durham wickets for 26.
Scott Borthwick was unfortunate to see the ball slowly trickle back onto his stumps from Peter Trego. Liam Plunkett overbalanced to one slanted across him by Charl Willoughby and was lbw.
Dale Benkenstein edged Alfonso Thomas to Trescothick at slip for 25 to end the innings.
Debutant Ruel Brathwaite was handed the new ball by Phil Mustard and Trescothick edged the first delivery straight to first slip. The only problem was, with the field in one-day mode, Michael Di Venuto was at two-and-a-half slip.
Spinner Ian Blackwell opened from the other end and began with a maiden (although there were three byes) against his former county. The pressure told and Kieswetter played a big yahoo to his second over, and lost middle stump.
When Trescothick drove to Borthwick at extra cover, the game was up. Trego went to another wild swipe, stumped by Mustard and the Cidermen battened down the hatches.
They needed 133 from the last five overs when the teams shook hands on a draw.
For a full report of Durham's final day of cricket in 2010, read Friday's Journal.
