Durham v Sussex at Chester-le-Street. 22, 23, 24, 25 June 2014
Durham 337 (MD Stoneman 113, JW Hastings 51, LJ Hatchett 5/113) and 359-6 dec. (KK Jennings 103, SG Borthwick 95) Sussex 205 (LJ Wright 66*, BA Stokes 7/67) and 182 (JC Tredwell 50*)
Durham won by 309 runs
Durham 22 points, Sussex 4 points
Durham had taken eight matches to register their first Championship victory of the 2014 season. Now, they made it two in a row as they overpowered Sussex.
Batting first, Durham slipped to 30 for three. Mark Stoneman, initially supported by Ben Stokes with 36, made his third century of the season with sixteen 4’s and one 6. When he was dismissed the home side were 202 for seven and some way short of a good score. Fortunately, the last three wickets added a further 135. John Hastings took 25 balls to score a run but then got into his stride, hitting eight boundaries. Support came from Phil Mustard, Paul Coughlin and Chris Rushworth.
Sussex started well, only to be pegged back by fine bowling from Ben Stokes who found swing and bounce. He finished with what remain his best innings figures in first-class cricket. By the end of the second day Keaton Jennings and Scott Borthwick had taken Durham’s lead past 200 with nine wickets standing. They were to take their partnership to 200 before Borthwick was dismissed five runs short of his century. Contributions from Stokes, Gordon Muchall and Michael Richardson meant that Paul Collingwood could declare and set a target of 492 for Sussex.
Stokes dismissed the Sussex top three. His match figures of ten for 121 are still his best match figures in first-class cricket and only ten-wicket haul. John Hastings ripped the heart out of the Sussex middle-order with four wickets and Durham closed on a three-day victory. Despite claiming the extra half-hour, they couldn’t quite achieve it. James Tredwell’s resistance meant that everyone had to come back for three overs the next morning.
Unfortunately, Durham’s good form was not maintained and by mid-August they were next to bottom in the table. Finishing the season with three consecutive wins lifted them to fifth.