It’s level at halfway as Durham fight back on day two
JUST as Durham had failed to do on the first day, Derbyshire could not take full advantage of having their opponents five down for not many as the second day of the LV Insurance County Championship game unfolded.
Durham battled back from 106-5 and 116-6 to take a narrow first innings lead as the lower order rallied to frustrate Derbyshire.
At the end of the day, when Derbyshire batted again, captain Billy Godleman’s awful form continued as he edged Chris Rushworth behind for nine and they also lost nightwatchman Sam Conners in the last over of the day.
Earlier, there was fine bowling from on-loan seamer Toby Pettman, who claimed 3-40 to hurt the Durham top order.
Derbyshire were on their mettle from the off with the ball to make immediate inroads into the Durham line-up.
Ben Aitchison dismissed England opener Alex Lees on his return to the county ranks, leg before for only seven, which sparked an earlymorning collapse.
Pettman was on the money with his line and length, producing a snorter to remove nightwatch Matt Salisbury, brilliantly caught by a diving Brooke Guest in front of first slip.
Durham skipper Scott Borthwick left one from Pettman which jagged in to his off stump for 13.
Sam Conners got in on the act to prise out Michael Jones, who played a loose drive to a wide ball and was taken by Aitchison at first slip, reducing the hosts to 38-4.
David Bedingham, who made a career best 257 against Derbyshire last year, found his feet at the crease and looked fluent.
The South African combined with debutant Nic Maddinson to steady the ship with a stand of 72 for the fifth wicket.
However, the Durham innings followed the same pattern as Derbyshire’s as the two set batters were dismissed quickly after lunch.
Both Bedingham and Maddinson fell in the same manner, caught down the leg-side by Guest off
Aitchison and Pettman respectively.
Liam Trevaskis opted for an aggressive approach to dig Durham out of trouble, blasting off-spinner Alex Thomson for four and six over his head, but a third attempt cost him his leg stump for 30.
Mackintosh and Ben Raine stabilised the Durham innings and pushed the score beyond 200 to secure the hosts’ first batting point.
Raine looked well set to record another knock of fifty plus but his aggression against Thomson resulted in a simple catch skied to Wayne Madsen.
Tom Mackintosh was not deterred by Raine’s departure and displayed maturity beyond his years by grinding out his maiden first-class halfcentury before being bowled by Conners for 51.
Rushworth and Stanley McAlindon defied the Derbyshire attack for the final wicket, the number 11 producing an aggressive knock of 33 from 27 balls to steer Durham into an unlikely 13-run lead.
It was the highest stand for the 10th wicket for Durham against Derbyshire, and provided the hosts with a second batting point.