Pressure piles on Durham after loss
WARWICKSHIRE piled up the second-highest total in their history to put Durham under serious pressure in their Vitality County Championship Division One tussle at Edgbaston.
The home side, led by Alex Davies’ maiden double-century, amassed a mammoth 698 for three declared to leave Durham needing 549 even to avoid the follow on.
The visitors closed the second day on 178 for three with Alex Lees (94 not out, 171 balls) leading the resistance but with a huge amount of work still to do to dig his side out of trouble.
A combination of placid pitch, Kookaburra ball, short boundary and injury-affected and rusty bowling attacks has delivered batting heaven in Birmingham. Warwickshire captain Davies took most advantage to amass 256, his maiden double century, from 311 balls while Rob Yates (a glittering 191 on the first day), Will Rhodes (178 not out from 234 balls) and Dan Mousley (an unbeaten 55 from 53) also filled their boots.
It has proved a bracing return to Division One for newly-promoted Durham whose scheduled opening game, at home to Hampshire, last week, was washed out without a ball bowled. Callum Parkinson, on his debut, harvested the most expensive analysis by a Durham bowler in first class cricket – two for 206 – while three of his team-mates also conceded more than 100 runs.
Warwickshire resumed on
the second morning on 490 for one and spent the morning milking a resigned-looking Durham attack which was without Scott Boland. The Australian overseas signing bowled 13 overs on the first day but, nursing a heel injury, stayed off the field for treatment, sensibly spared the ordeal of flogging himself further in such gruelling conditions.
Former Lancashire opener Davies advanced implacably onwards and it was a surprise when, after 445 minutes at the crease in which he struck 28 fours and three sixes, he was beaten in forward defence and bowled by Parkinson.
The spinner then made it two wickets in three balls when he produced a beauty to bowl Ed Barnard, but the theme of batting domination was soon restored. Mousley hoisted his third ball into the crowd at the City End for six and settled in alongside the relentless Rhodes to add an unbroken 132 in 22 overs before the declaration arrived half an hour into the afternoon session.
The pitch continued to offer the bowlers little but, after Durham eased to 42 without loss, Warwickshire’s seamers manage to prise two superb deliveries from it in nine balls. Scott Borthwick edged a brute of a lifter from Olly Hannon Dalby behind and Colin Ackermann nicked a perfectly-shaped outswinger from Craig Miles.
Lees and David Bedingham knuckled down to add 94 in 25 overs before off-spinner Yates, given his longest spell in first class cricket so far, had Bedingham (49, 70) caught at short mid-wicket. Lees’ concentration remained absolute (he closed the day on 9,998 first class runs) and, with Ollie Robinson, saw out the last 16 overs of the day but Durham are still in the foothills of the mountain they have to climb.
After the game, Durham bowler Callum Parkinson said; “It’s been a tough couple of days as a unit. We didn’t quite get it right, especially on that first morning, and I broke a record which I have been having a little chuckle about. I thought I actually bowled okay and took a lot of positives from the two days which sounds a bit weird but I think we know, as a group, we didn’t hit our straps. The ball got soft quite quickly and we probably didn’t set the best fields as a bowling unit and got hit both sides of the wicket. You’ve also got to doff your cap to them. They batted very well.
“Regardless of the conditions, we just weren’t good enough. We allowed them to get away and once the run-rate started to climb it was tricky to contain them.
“Now we have just got to knuckle down with the bat. We have such a strong batting group and there are no demons in the pitch. We have had a decent start and if we can take this partnership deep into tomorrow hopefully we can bat long and bat big.”
Warwickshire batter Will Rhodes added: ““It’s nice to start with some runs. In the last few seasons I have been notoriously a slow starter so to have two good knocks in the first two innings is very pleasing on a personal note.
“It was nice to go in as number three with 343 on the board. That is an unbelievable foundation.”