Milestone for Leespublished at 11:44 British Summer Time 17 September
Durham 57-0 v Surrey
Martin Emmerson
BBC Radio Newcastle
Durham opener Alex Lees has passed 5,000 first-class runs for the county today - it's come in 70 matches at an average of 46.3 per innings.
Lees is acting skipper for this game in the absence of the injured Scott Borthwick, who misses out on a re-union with the side he played for from 2017 to 2020.
Durham were put in by Surrey, on a lovely sunny morning at The Oval. Moments after Lees reached the 22 he needed to reach the 5,000 mark, he should have been out. He left a ball from Sam Curran which took his off-stump out of the ground and wrecked the bail. But the umpired signalled a no-ball.
The game sees Durham debuts for teenage bowler James Minto and former Northants batsman Emilio Gay, while Sam and Tom Curran are playing in a Championship match together for the first time since June 2017.