Nottinghamshire seal top spot in group after draw with Durham
Nottinghamshire confirmed their place in Division One of the next stage of the LV= Insurance County Championship after playing out a draw against Durham on day four of their clash at Emirates Riverside.
Peter Moores' men already guaranteed their spot in the top tier courtesy of bonus points gained in the contest, but the result against the North East outfit allowed the visitors to advance in first place in Group One.
Durham were set a chase of 381 on the final day after bowling Notts out for 217 in their second innings as Scott Borthwick claimed four wickets.
The hosts' hopes of forcing a victory were slim to say the least, and they opted to bat out the day for the draw.
As a result, James Franklin's side will be participating in Division Two in the next phase of the competition.
Durham coach James Franklin said: "The plan for the short boundaries was to try to get as many points as possible because we had to try and win to give ourselves the best opportunity of challenging for Division One.
"Our batting in the first innings was probably what let us down.
"It prevented us the opportunity to pick up batting points that we needed and to apply pressure to Notts. We've played some very good cricket in the Championship,
it's something we can be proud of.
"We still have four huge games remaining in our season, which we are looking forward to."
Notts attempted to move the game forward in the morning session, losing Steven Mullaney and Joey Evison as Matthew Potts and Matt Salisbury claimed their third wickets of the innings.
Brett Hutton and Liam Patterson-White pushed the accelerator, capitalising on the short boundaries to find the rope with ease. Borthwick cleaned up the visitors' tail, taking the remaining four wickets to bowl out Notts for 217, although they finished with an overwhelming lead of 380.
Durham's openers Cameron Bancroft and Michael
Jones made a resolute start in their response, putting on a stand worth 55 for the first wicket. Broad broke the partnership removing Bancroft for the second time of the game lbw with a delivery that kept low.
Jones and Borthwick combined in another display of resilience from the hosts. The duo recorded a 57-run stand before Borthwick nicked off to Lyndon James for 25 when seemingly well set at the crease.
Jones spurned his opportunity to notch his second half-century of the season as he fell before tea playing back to Pattinson-White and was bowled for four runs shy of the milestone.
The home side looked to grind their way out towards a draw as Notts opted to work with Mullaney in tandem with Patterson-White. Mullaney still accounted for the wicket of the Championship's top run-scorer, bowling Bedingham with a grubber for 36.
However, with the fate of both sides sealed, the two captains opted to shake hands to forego the final hour and end the contest in a draw.