Frustration as rain halts Durham game
WARWICKSHIRE’S attempt to press for victory were thwarted by the weather on day three of their Specsavers County Championship match against Durham at Edgbaston.
After heading into lunch on 28 for one, a lead of 46, rain started towards the end of the interval and continued throughout the day.
The umpires did see an improvement as a 3.20pm inspection was called, but the weather deteriorated and no further play was possible meaning 70 overs in total had been lost.
That will surely cause frustration within the hosts changing room as promotion rivals Sussex and Kent sit in a strong possible against Leicestershire and Northamptonshire respectively.
Jeetan Patel’s side must now bat aggressively to set up a Durham run chase and unlikely victory with only 96 overs available on the final day.
The day started under blue skies with the visitors resuming on 224 for seven, 86 behind.
Olly Stone immediately exposed the tail by bowling Paul Collingwood first ball of the morning for 38, but any Warwickshire expectation of a sizeable first innings lead diminished as Barry McCarthy and Salisbury put on a resolute 42 between them.
McCarthy was eventually dismissed, trapped LBW to Chris Wright for 43, but Durham were buoyed as they made in-roads to the first innings total set.
Chris Rushworth, the last man in, supported Salisbury in another valuable 26-run partnership before Stone struck with his seventh wicket to remove the stubborn number ten, who’d made a career-best 38, and bowl Durham out for 292.
With conditions darkening, the Bears faced 11 overs before the interval and they saw opener Will Rhodes trapped LBW by Rushworth for 16 leaving Dom Sibley (7*) and Ian Bell (4*) to close out the session.
If Warwickshire are to get anything more than the eleven points a draw would reward them then it would be fair to say that one of those two would need to score quickly.
Durham’s Jon Lewis said: “I still think there’s enough cricket tomorrow, the forecast is good. We’ve lost quite a bit of time today, but I still think both sides can achieve a positive result tomorrow.
“I’m sure they’ll be positive as they’re in a good position in the league, so they’ll be looking I’m sure at this as an opportunity. That’s good for us though as it gives us the opportunity to take some wickets early on.
Warwickshire’s Jeetan Patel said: “Obviously we would have liked to be out there for the day and trying to get a big lead and putting pressure on tomorrow. What we have to look at is what we can do tomorrow to get the points we need in terms of bowling them out.
“You have to be careful against any bowling attack, they’ve got a good seam attack, so we regroup tomorrow morning and go from there.
“We’ve had a long day of sitting around waiting and hoping and unfortunately we haven’t had that opportunity today.
“We’ll conjure up a plan, go from there and hopefully we’ll get a full day’s play tomorrow. Even if we can leave a chance, a chance is better that no chance.”