Durham up against it at the Riverside

DURHAM’S fragility with the bat was exposed once more in their Specsavers County Championship Division Two match with Sussex.

The hosts were reduced to a paltry 92-7 on a rain-affected first day at the Riverside, and are already on the back foot with just three players reaching double figures.

Durham were inserted following an uncontested toss and were put on the back foot by impressive bowling from the visitors.

David Wiese led the way with figures of 3-12, while Ollie Robinson also notched a couple of wickets to continue his impressive term.

The home side have struggled with the bat at the Riverside this season, accumulating just two points in the campaign. Once again Jon Lewis’ men have it all to do against promotion-chasing Sussex.

Only one over of play was possible in the morning session due to bad light. Cameron Steel successfully negotiated the spell from Robinson, although he did get off the mark by edging through the slips to the boundary.

Durham’s problems began almost immediately after lunch.

Alex Lees drove at a Jofra Archer delivery, edging the ball straight to Phil Salt at third slip. Will Smith became Robinson’s first victim following the opener back to the pavilion in the following over, while Graham Clark was undone by a good delivery as Harry Finch took the catch at second slip.

Steel and Michael Richardson were able to offer brief resistance, producing a partnership of 42 runs, using the short boundary to their advantage to attempt to swing momentum back in Durham’s favour. However, Wiese made the breakthrough as Richardson fell for 23 driving loosely at a wider delivery. Steel followed in the next over to begin a collapse, allowing Chris Jordan to enter the wicket column.

Axar Patel found the boundary twice early in his innings before being bowled through the gate by Wiese. Captain Paul Collingwood tried to see out the session, but left a straight ball from Wiese to become the seventh wicket of the day.

Rain prevented any further play on the first day, much to relief of the home side in their attempt to salvage a meaningful score from their first innings.

Durham coach Lewis said: “Our batting in the first innings has not been good enough. While it has been tough, we have to be honest and say that it should have been better.”