Notts v Durham, day four

Steve Harmison was also looking very dangerous and a turnaround was on the cards. But in the next 55 overs Nottinghamshire thrashed 333 runs for the loss of two wickets, led by 40-year-old Ali Brown.

They declared at tea on 559 for eight, leading by 341 and leaving Durham with four sessions to bat to avoid their first championship defeat for 23 games.

They closed on 88 for four, losing key man Michael Di Venuto after his positive start had been interrupted by a 20-minute break for bad light, quickly followed by out-of-form skipper Will Smith.

Then as the sun came out and shadows lengthened Dale Benkenstein and Kyle Coetzer departed in the day’s last five overs.

Darren Pattinson had already conceded 42 runs when he suddenly produced a good one in his seventh over to have Di Venuto caught at second slip, then Smith pushed at an away swinger from Steve Mullaney and edged to the wicketkeeper.

Paul Franks nipped one away to have Benkenstein caught behind then Coetzer, having survived a much better shout in Charlie Shreck’s previous over, was adjudged lbw for 45.

After his jubilant start to the day nightwatchman Rushworth survived two overs from Franks without much difficulty.

The strength of the Nottinghamshire team is their stroke-playing depth and from 226 for six, when they led by only eight runs, they opted to meet fire with fire. Once they had won the initial skirmish they just kept blazing away.

Brown made 134 off 120 balls, skipper Chris Read was unbeaten on 124 and there was an outrageous 64 from Franks, who was dropped first ball and should have been given out lbw on four.

These are batsmen who can ride their luck, as opposed to the way they folded up when things weren’t going their way against Durham last season.

Nothing is going Durham’s way at the moment. In conceding more than 550 runs for the second successive match they were also on the receiving end of a double century stand for the third time this season. It didn’t happen at all last year.

Things might have been different had Ben Harmison clung on to the first of the three chances he put down. The other two were difficult, but he should have held this one at third slip and it would have given brother Steve a much-needed early wicket.

Instead he remained out of luck and finally suffered the indignity of being carted into the stand over cow corner by Franks, whose next heave resulted in an edge to Phil Mustard for Harmison senior’s only wicket.

Brown regularly used to plunder runs for Surrey off Durham in their early days in first-class cricket, but hadn’t troubled them for around a decade until yesterday’s vintage performance.

He got after Rushworth following his early wickets, a fierce straight drive on 13 almost parting what little hair the Sunderland seamer possesses.

After conceding only 25 runs in 13 overs on Tuesday, Rushworth went for 51 in seven in his morning spell. But the worst punishment was handed out to young Ben Stokes, with 59 runs off six overs, and it was a mystery why he and Ben Harmison were bowling in tandem at the height of the mayhem.

Ian Blackwell had bowled nine overs for 15 runs and when he finally returned he opened up with a maiden.

Liam Plunkett, who had also been out of action for a long time, then came on for Stokes and after seeing his first ball driven for a straight six by Brown he had him caught behind two balls later.

Franks slashed the next ball through Ben Harmison’s hands at gully and, on four, it was impossible to imagine why umpire Jeff Evans did not give the left-hander out lbw to the disbelieving Blackwell.

Evans also turned down a justifiably confident lbw appeal from Mullaney against Benkenstein and Shreck’s first appeal against Coetzer before upholding one when the Scot looked too far forward.

Other than Rushworth, it was a forgettable day for all the Durham players, but especially the younger Harmison.

He knows his first championship appearance since the last match of 2008 could be a one-off if the injury situation eases, and his early dropped catch cannot have helped his confidence.

When he first came on to bowl his first ball was harshly called a wide by George Sharp, then Read pulled him for six and the next ball was another wide.

That shot got Read going and he matched Brown blow for blow until they were in the 70s, when Brown began to go berserk and the captain sat back to admire it. They put on 237 in 43 overs before Brown departed after hitting 17 fours and three sixes.

It had been noted on Tuesday that Mark Wagh looked more responsible than in the past on his way to 44, but he drove at the first ball yesterday and edged to Di Venuto at second slip to give Rushworth his maiden first-class wicket.

Rushworth then nipped one in to have Samit Patel lbw and had nightwatchman Mullaney caught by Di Venuto.

Having climbed rapidly to such dizzy heights, Durham’s descent was swift and dispiriting. Having already dropped five bowling bonus points this season, they failed to pick up the third yesterday and could lose another one for a slow over-rate.

Score board

Nottinghamshire v Durham At Trent Bridge

Overnight: Durham 218. Nottinghamshire 191-3 (H M Amla 67).

Nottinghamshire First Innings

M A Wagh c Di Venuto b Rushworth .....44

S J Mullaney c Di Venuto b Rushworth .24

S R Patel lbw b Rushworth .................... 4

A D Brown c Mustard b Plunkett .........134

C M Read not out ..............................124

P J Franks c Mustard b S J Harmison ...64

Extras (b2 lb22 w11 nb14 ) .....49

Total 8 wkts dec (118 overs)..559

Fall: 1-34 2-91 3-179 4-191 5-199 6-226 7- 463 8-559

Bowling: S J Harmison 28-4-123-1. Rushworth 28-4-113-3. Plunkett 21-1-115-3. B W Harmison 19-1-86-1. Blackwell 16-5-39-0. Stokes 6-0-59-0.

Durham Second Innings Close

K J Coetzer lbw b Shreck ......................45

M J Di Venuto c Edwards b Pattinson ...29

W R Smith c Read b Mullaney ............... 4

D M Benkenstein c Edwards b Franks .. 8

C Rushworth not out ............................. 0

I D Blackwell not out ............................. 1

Extras (pens 0)............................. 0

Total 4 wkts (32 overs).................87

Fall: 1-49 2-69 3-84 4-86

To Bat: L E Plunkett, B A Stokes, P Mustard, B W Harmison, S J Harmison.

Bonus Pts: Nottinghamshire 8 Durham 3

Bowling: Pattinson 9-1-49-1. Shreck 10-2- 16-1. Franks 8-4-12-1. Mullaney 5-3-10-1.

SECOND XI CHAMPIONSHIP

(day 3 of 4)

Durham 157 (Borthwick 39) and 202 (Breese 64) v Lancs 127 (Harrison 4-26; Evans 3-45, Wood 3-28) and 132-4