Durham tail-enders dig in to deny Bears a win
DURHAM’S tail dug deep to earn a draw and dent Warwickshire’s promotion hopes on day four of their captivating Specsavers County Championship match at Edgbaston.
Set 218 to win from 41 overs, Durham were fancying their chances but four wickets from Olly Stone helped reduce the visitors to 102 for eight with seven overs remaining.
The Bears intensified their efforts, missing the edge many times, but wicketkeeper Stuart Poynter (9*) and number ten Matt Salisbury (5*) put on a resolute ninth wicket partnership of 13 runs from 35 balls.
It was heartbreak for a home side that remains top but sees their lead reduced to seven points to second placed Kent who beat Northants earlier in the afternoon.
With 70 overs lost in the match and Warwickshire’s promotion rivals Sussex and Kent closing in on top spot, there was plenty of urgency from the hosts to engineer a winning opportunity.
Starting the day on 28 for one, Ian Bell was the first to go, caught by Graham Clark after wafting at Axar Patel’s first ball for 10, with Dominic Sibley following him shortly after, bowled by Patel for 27 trying to sweep.
Jonathan Trott then fell four balls later, edging to Paul Collingwood for 13 off Barry McCarthy, leaving the Bears struggling on 68 for four.
A valuable partnership of 89 from 202 balls between Sam Hain and Tim Ambrose who was dropped twice on 10 and 14, edged Warwickshire ahead in the game.
But once Ambrose was trapped LBW by Patel, wickets fell at an alarming rate – five in nine overs - as the spinner bulldozed through the tail, once Barry McCarthy removed Keith Barker for five, to chalk up a career-best of 27.4-12-54-7.
The 24 year-old bowled his namesake for seven, before getting Chris Wright (15), Stone (0) and Ryan Sidebottom to hole out with the latter dismissal coming via the head of Will Smith at short leg.
Durham needed to go at 5.31 an over to reach their target, but they were immediately put on the back foot.
Barker trapped Alex Lees LBW for nine, before Wright got Cameron Steel to edge behind for 21, whilst Stone dismissed Smith for eight an over later. Both wickets had come following a bowling change.
Stone struck again, Richardson given LBW, putting the visitors on 54 for four and needing another 164 to win from 22.4 overs.
An away win now looked heavily unlikely and Warwickshire, who were rotating the seam attack, struck with 21 overs remaining when Stone got Clark to find Hain at deep square for 23.
Patel, who was going at a run a ball, was the next to fall trapped LBW by Barker for 22 leaving the experienced Collingwood and Stuart Poynter to see out the final the thirteen overs.
But Collingwood was caught by Ambrose for 13 off the bowling of Wright and McCarthy followed when Stone trapped him LBW for two.
Warwickshire’s tails were up but Durham’s were a match, defending seven intense overs of pace which saw five slips and no fielder more than 15 yards away from the bat.
There’s little time for either side to dust themselves down with Warwickshire heading to Grace Road to face Leicestershire on Monday, whilst Durham return to Chester-le-Street to face third placed Sussex.
Warwickshire’s Jim Troughton said: “I’m very proud. I’ve just said to the guys actually there’s a sense of pride with how we’ve played against Gloucestershire and Glamorgan these last two games where we’ve put in solid performances, dominated the side and won comfortably.
“You’re almost dying of that feeling of getting over the line with a real close one, but it wasn’t to be this game.
“There’s some disappointed guys in the changing room, but it’s about picking them up and realising they could have achieved something really special here.”