By Niall Hickman
MATCH RESULT – Yorkshire win by 183 runs.
Yorkshire 19 points, Durham 3.
Yorkshire 162 and 440. Durham 156 and 263.
For full scorecard go to http://www.sportinglife.com/cricket/match/scorecard/16160/yorks-vs-durham
Durham could not stop Yorkshire’s victory march towards the LV County Championship Division One, going down by 183 runs just after tea on the third day at North Marine Road.
Durham showed some commendable resistance, in particular with debut maker Jack Burnham displaying a fine technique in a gutsy knock of 50, his maiden first class half century.
Top scorer Burnham was last man out as he skied Liam Plunkett to Yorkshire skipper Andrew Gale – a fitting end to the contest.
It completed Yorkshire’s first ever ‘double’ over Durham and the runaway LV County Championship leaders are now way ahead of their rivals for the title.
Durham coach Jon Lewis said: “Yorkshire have got a big lead in the title race and they execute all their game plans very well. But we have got four four-day matches left, three of them at home and if we can finish second in the league that is what we will be raring to do. There is still a lot of cricket to be played this season and we have to try and finish as high as we can and second is up for grabs. That has got to be our aim.”
Lewis reserved special praise for Burnham, who battled for three hours against a very strong Yorkshire bowling line-up.
Lewis said: “Jack batted against three England bowlers and a high class spinner and barely put a foot wrong. I counted two false shots in the whole of his innings and he should be very proud of the way he did against a top class attack. Jack did really well. I’m very pleased for him.
“We have got a little break now before the one-dayer Derbyshire match and hopefully we can get a few of the players over some of the niggles they have picked up.
“We did very well against Yorkshire for a lot of the sessions, but one of them went very much their way and that was enough to win the game.”
In the morning Graham Onions quickly flattened Steven Patterson’s stumps, but by then Yorkshire had moved on to 440, leaving Durham with the daunting task of reaching 447 to win.
Such a total had only been reached seven times before in the history of first class cricket, underlining the extent of difficulty Durham faced in overcoming their northern rivals.
Mark Stoneman’s side started brightly in front of 4,400 North Marine Road spectators. The skipper had moved on to 37 with relatively little trouble in partnership with Graham Clark, but Tim Bresnan dug one in and Stoneman scooped a chance back to the bowler, who took an excellent catch.
Clark and Scott Borthwick took the score past the 100-mark and the latter passed 1,000 runs for the season in first class cricket after steering Liam Plunkett down to the third man boundary when 26.
Just as it looked as though Durham would reach lunch with only a solitary wicket down, the reigning county champions struck with the final ball before the break. Plunkett trapped Clark and although there was a suspicion the ball would have missed leg stump, the Durham opener was given out LBW for 36.
Lunch was taken with Durham 107-2 and straight after the re-start Stoneman’s side lost their third wicket. Plunkett drew a thick edge off Borthwick, who watched in astonishment as Glenn Maxwell, scorer of 140 in Yorkshire’s second innings, held on for a stunning full stretch catch at third slip, reminiscent of Ben Stokes’ in the Trent Bridge test.
The wickets continued to fall and in between Michael Richardson shipped a painful blow on his hand from a fierce Plunkett delivery.
Gordon Muchall reached 15 when he tried to fend off a rising Plunkett lifter, only to get a touch to wicket keeper Andy Hodd, making it 143-4.
England Under-19 star Burnham came to the crease on a pair, but a gentle push to point brought the Esh Winning youngster his first runs in senior cricket.
Burnham and Richardson moved the score serenely on but 20 minutes before tea Bresnan was brought back into the attack and he immediately managed to winkle out the Durham keeper for 48 via a huge LBW shout.
Ryan Pringle was soon back in the pavilion for 4 having driven Adil Rashid to Gary Ballance and minutes later Jamie Harrison was run out for 0 courtesy of Andrew Gale’s accurate throw.
John Hastings lifted Rashid into the west stand bar, but the strapping Australian didn’t spot Rashid’s googly in his next over and was adjudged LBW for 16.
Chris Rushworth was out second ball as his attempted drive looped to Plunkett at extra cover off Rashid.
Burnham was on 42 when Onions came to the crease, but he guided a lovely glance down to the third man boundary, then smashed Plunkett through square for four to bring up his fifty off 111 balls, with eight boundaries.
Onions took 18 runs off Rashid’s next over to move the score past the 250-mark before Burnham skied Plunkett to Gale. It left Plunkett with his season-best figures of 4-61, while Rashid chipped in with 3-66.
Burnham was delighted to have contributed to Durham’s cause, even in defeat.
The England Under-19 youngster said: “It is a dream come true to be playing for my county and I still can’t quite believe it. It was a pretty difficult attack to face but I never back down from anything and I wanted to show I can bat. Yorkshire are such a strong side and you have to hold your hands up and say well done to them.”
Umpires Nick Cook and Jeremy Lloyds.