Day 3: Durham 391/9 declared beat Warwickshire 87 & 177 by an innings and 127 runs.
The home side added 104 runs to their overnight total of 287 before declaring, leaving Warwickshire with an uphill challenge to force them to return to the crease. Durham were on the mark with the ball from the off and Chris Rushworth claimed his 500th wicket in the County Championship.
However, it was the pace of Brydon Carse that proved to be the decisive factor for the hosts, claiming figures of five for 49 to bowl out the visitors for 177. Durham secured their first first-class win in 11 matches, taking 21 points from the contest to move temporarily into second place in Group One.
Resuming on 287 for four, Alex Lees added three runs to his overnight score of 126 before he edged a Liam Norwell delivery behind. Michael Burgess fumbled the initial catch before Tim Bresnan ended the opener’s 498-minute knock on the rebound at first slip.
Ned Eckersley, Stuart Poynter and Ben Raine followed Lees back to the pavilion as the home side attempted to inject pace into the innings. Carse and Mark Wood pressed Durham’s lead over 300 with a stand worth fifty for the ninth wicket. Once Wood fell Scott Borthwick declared to allow his team to have a burst at the visitors before lunch.
Wood made the breakthrough before the interval from the Finchale End as Will Rhodes edged to David Bedingham at first slip. Hanuma Vihari then became the 500th victim of Rushworth in the County Championship when he was pinned lbw for a second-ball duck, leaving the visitors in trouble at eight for two.
Robert Yates and Sam Hain displayed grit amid impressive bowling from the hosts. The two players put on fifty for the third wicket, but a ball later Yates fended a Rushworth delivery into the hands of Borthwick.
Wood and Carse were unleashed on the new man Matthew Lamb, roughing up the right-hander with rapid pace bowling. Lamb survived the initial onslaught, but Hain received a snorting ball from Carse on the stroke of tea that found his outside edge, which was snagged by Bedingham.
Carse remained a threat at the Lumley End and notched a deserved second wicket, removing Lamb’s off stump for 19. Burgess dug in alongside Bresnan, but the wicket-keeper played a loose drive to give away his wicket prompting a lower-order collapse.
Smelling blood in the water Borthwick reintroduced Carse from the Finchale End. Carse’s pace blew away the Warwickshire tail as Briggs chipped a tame drive straight into the hands of Alex Lees before he clean bowled Craig Miles and Norwell with successive deliveries.
Day 2: DURHAM 287 for four (Alex Lees 126*, Will Young 124) vs WARWICKSHIRE 87
Centuries from Will Young and Alex Lees compounded Durham’s advantage over Warwickshire in their LV= Insurance County Championship clash, building a 200-run lead after day two at Emirates Riverside.
Young and Lees continued their impressive form from the previous evening, preventing the visitors from mounting a comeback in the morning session. Young was the first to three figures, scoring his maiden century for Durham. The New Zealander enjoyed a stand of 208 with Lees for the first wicket that was broken by Liam Norwell.
Lees remained composed at the other end on his way to his 17th first-class century and first of the term. He remained unbeaten at the close with the home side in a dominant position on 287 for four, heading into day three looking to engineer their first win of the season.
Resuming on 88 for nought, Norwell could have removed Young without adding to his overnight score, but he failed to take a difficult return catch on the dive. Young made the most of his reprieve, passing fifty for the first time of the season from 150 balls with a drive down the ground. The Durham openers strengthened their side’s grip by posting their first stand of over a hundred this season. Lees then joined his partner in reaching his half-century, continuing his solid start to the term.
After passing fifty both openers began to up the ante. Lees dispatched Danny Briggs for back-to-back boundaries over long-on, taking the stand beyond 150 before Young cleared the fence over cow corner off the left-arm spinner. Successive boundaries off Tim Bresnan took the New Zealand international to 99 before he posted his 11th first-class hundred from 248 deliveries.
The Durham openers had put in 208 for the first wicket, their highest opening stand against Warwickshire before Norwell finally earned the breakthrough for the visitors. The right-arm seamer ended Young’s innings, pinning the New Zealander on the crease lbw for an impressive 124.
Lees continued to grind his way towards his first century of the season, nurdling a single into the leg-side to get over line from 283 balls. At the other end wickets began to tumble as Scott Borthwick and David Bedingham were both removed by deliveries that kept low before Jack Burnham was dismissed for one by Briggs, earning the visitors their first point of the game.
Rain halted play just before the tea break and wiped out over two hours. The action resumed with Lees and Ned Eckersley steering Durham to the close four wickets down with an imperious advantage over the Midlands outfit.
Reaction Day 2: Will Young
Day 1: LV= Insurance County Championship: Durham 88 without loss v Warwickshire 87 (Ben Raine 5-9, Mark Wood 3-28)
Ben Raine and Mark Wood provided Durham with the perfect start to their LV= Insurance County Championship clash against Warwickshire at Emirates Riverside, bowling out the visitors for 87.
Raine was outstanding, claiming figures of five for nine, while Wood provided support with his pace with three wickets for 28. Warwickshire were rocked by the home side and were at one stage 30 for eight.
The tail wagged courtesy of Craig Miles and Liam Norwell, but the visitors produced their lowest total since 2015. Durham poured on the agony for the Midlands outfit surpassing their first-innings score without loss, ending day one with a lead of one.
Rain delayed the start of the contest, but once it had subsided Durham won the toss and elected to bowl. Wood took the new ball and needed only seven deliveries to find his rhythm, clipping the top of Robert Yates’ off-stump. After three overs, Wood was withdrawn from the attack, but Raine ensured the potency remained. With his first ball, Raine had a great shout for lbw against Hanuma Vihari denied.
Undeterred, Raine responded in his next over and this time did get lbw decision, removing Vihari for eight. The right-arm seamer snagged opener Will Rhodes in the same manner as the left-hander played across the line at a straight delivery.
Wood returned from the Lumley End before lunch, dismissing Matthew Lamb with a spearing strike to clip off stump, reducing Warwickshire to 22 for four. Raine tormented the middle order after the break. Sam Hain left a straight ball before Matthew Burgess was skittled by the former Leicestershire man.
Danny Briggs was the next victim of the Durham attack, Wood’s pace was too much for the tailender to handle chipping the ball straight up to Chris Rushworth at mid-on. Raine then notched his fifth wicket by clean bowling Tim Bresnan, leaving the visitors staring down the barrel at 30 for eight. However, Miles and Norwell provided valuable resistance to stem the tide. They put on a partnership of 52 for the ninth wicket before Brydon Carse wrapped up the tail with two late strikes.
Alex Lees and Will Young adopted a patient approach in the early stages of Durham’s reply. After seeing off the threat of the new ball, the duo put on their first fifty partnership of the season, reaching the milestone from 120 balls. The openers remained unbeaten at the close, with their side in command after the first day of the contest.
Day 1 Reaction: Mark Wood