SCOTT Borthwick cruised relentlessly along to reach 185 out of 444 for nine as Durham comfortably avoided the follow-on at Trent Bridge.

He found surprising assistance from the injured Brydon Carse, who limped in with Keaton Jennings as his runner and showed more batting prowess on one leg than he had on two.

He included a huge six, carted from off stump into the car park over mid-wicket off Samit Patel in his 47.

The eighth-wicket stand of 92 took Durham to 400 in the 95th over, 17 overs quicker than Nottinghamshire. It meant Durham won the batting bonus points battle 5-4, but the hosts levelled it up when they claimed maximum bowling points.

Borthwick had slowed down after reaching his century, but he was back in full flow when he drove Harry Gurney in front of mid-wicket for four then cut the next ball to the boundary.

An imperious drive through extra cover for his 25th four took him to 150 off 225 balls.

Carse ruffled Jackson Bird's feathers by twice clipping him to the leg-side boundary in one over, but fell when he skied a pull off Brett Hutton.

Chris Rushworth seemed determined to deny Nottinghamshire the last bowling point until he nibbled at one from Hutton and was caught behind.

With last man Graham Onions for company, Borthwick pulled Hutton deep into the seats over square leg to bring the deficit below 100.