County Championship: Lyndon James hits first fifty but Notts draw with Durham
- Published
Half-centurion Lyndon James was playing in only his third match for Nottinghamshire
County Championship Group One, Trent Bridge (day four): |
Durham 330 & 332-4 dec: Bedingham 180*, Eckersley 113* |
Nottinghamshire 267: Moores 96*; Salisbury 4-74 & 298-5: James 79*, Slater 73, Mullaney 69 |
Match Drawn. Notts 13 pts, Durham 13 pts |
Lyndon James' maiden first-class fifty in just his third match helped Nottinghamshire escape with a draw against Durham at Trent Bridge.
Needing to bat through the final day after Durham declared on 332-4 leaving a nominal 396 to win, Notts slipped to 159-4 just after lunch before James got together with captain Steven Mullaney.
The pair shared 124 in 29.2 overs to repel Durham for much of the afternoon.
Mullaney fell for 69 but James walked off 79 not out with the draw secured.
It was another impressive rearguard action from the Notts middle order, who had also rallied from 141-7 to post 267 in the first innings.
Both sides took 13 points from the game but it was Durham who held the whip hand throughout.
After declaring before the start of play, the visitors looked on course for victory when Chris Rushworth took out Haseeb Hameed's off stump for a 15-ball duck, then trapped Ben Duckett lbw for 12.
Ben Slater's 109-ball fifty steadied the home side but he swung and missed at a Scott Borthwick long hop to fall lbw for 73 before Joe Clarke, on 38, edged to first slip to give Matt Salisbury his 100th first-class wicket in his 35th match.
But 22-year-old James played with maturity to help captain Mullaney dash Durham's hopes.