A HEROIC hundred by Paul Collingwood took Durham to the unexpected heights of 309, setting Nottinghamshire a target of 375 to win.

It was a day for batting at Chester-le-Street and under an almost cloudless sky the only gloom for Collingwood at the outset was his apparent lack of allies.

But after the early loss of Paul Coughlin the captain somehow managed to coax Chris Rushworth into applying himself sensibly to the task of getting the lead past 300.

In fact, they did much better than that and it was not until five minutes before the scheduled lunch break that Rushworth fell for 45, one short of his career-best.

When he left a straight one from Jake Ball, which hit his off stump, it was his first misjudgement in a priceless stand of 84.

With nine wickets down, lunch was delayed but the captain ensured that debut boy Peter Chase saw very little of the strike.

After Ajmal Shahzad conceded 46 runs in six overs yesterday, Nottinghamshire did not risk him this morning until Collingwood was on 96.

With eight men on the boundary, he twice pushed towards long-on and took two runs to reach his century off 219 balls. The he tried an improvised scoop shot off the next ball and was bowled.

After batting for two hours for 38 yesterday, Collingwood continued in the same doggedly determined vein. But he is proud of the off-side driving he has fine-tuned this season and a shot perfectly placed between extra cover and mid-off took him to 50 off 126 balls.

He took no chances until Rushworth was out, then he stepped across to flip Ball to fine leg for four. Otherwise he settled for singles off the fifth ball of each over.

Durham were 261 ahead with three wickets standing at the outset and only eight were added before Coughlin edged a good delivery from Ball to Chris Read to depart for a very valuable 39.

Rushworth showed he can handle a bat in making 46 at Taunton in May, but he had since passed ten only when scoring 32 at home to Sussex.

His reluctance to apply himself can be maddening, but today he knuckled down, no doubt under threat of serious violence from his captain if he didn’t.

The only worry for Durham was that the ease with which he played confirmed that it truly was a day for batting and they needed to set as big a target as possible.

He allowed himself the occasional indulgence, twice slogging Gary Keedy to the boundary in front of mid-wicket, but there were also some cultured strokes and a maiden 50 was beckoning when he was out.