County Championship: Nottinghamshire win Division Two title after thumping Durham

Nottinghamshire won eight of their 14 Championship games this season

Nottinghamshire needed just over two hours to take the seven Durham wickets they needed to be confirmed as Division Two champions on the final day of the County Championship season at Trent Bridge.

England's Stuart Broad, in his first appearance for his county since May, finished with 3-36, left-arm spinner Liam Patterson-White took 3-41 and South African seamer Dane Paterson 2-27.

Durham, for whom David Bedingham was unable to bat because of a dislocated shoulder, were dismissed for 114 to lose by 462 runs.

Nottinghamshire had already won promotion after taking seven bonus points but they had wanted to end on a winning note - and gave spectators free admission to witness their triumph.

Resuming on 14-2 after Nottinghamshire had declared their second innings on 121-2, Durham suffered their first loss in the fourth over of the day when Broad angled one in to have Scott Borthwick leg before.

Skipper Steven Mullaney, one of four first-innings centurions, sprang a surprise when he did not enforce the follow-on after Durham were dismissed 455 behind on first innings, yet his decision seemed to be justified as a rested attack made life difficult for their opponents in conditions freshened up by overnight rain.

Patterson-White claimed the second scalp of the morning in his first over when Liam Trevaskis's top-edged sweep looped gently to slip.

On-loan Warwickshire wicketkeeper Chris Benjamin took a positive approach, hitting five boundaries in his 33, but came a cropper when Broad returned for his second spell, edging to second slip.

Patterson-White bowled Ben Raine, Paterson had Matty Potts edging to second slip, where Matt Montgomery took his second catch of the innings before Patterson-White enjoyed the decisive moment as Jonathan Bushnell, sweeping off balance, was leg before.

How did Notts do it?

Notts began the season as title favourites not on the basis of their form the last time the Championship was played in two divisions, pre-Covid, in 2019, when they were relegated without a win, but on their performance in 2021, when they were in contention for the title right up to the last round.

They felt slightly miffed that this year's divisions were configured on the basis of what happened three years ago, but the ECB quite reasonably felt they had to maintain the integrity of their competition.

In any event, they have clearly justified their short odds, winning more matches and more bonus points than any of their rivals.

The only defeats suffered were against Glamorgan in their first home match in April, and at Worcester last week, a shock that left them with something to do in this fixture.

Stand-out performer with the bat has been Haseeb Hameed, who has bounced back from the low point of a chastening Ashes winter to enjoy his most productive season, amassing 1,235 runs at 58.80, including four hundreds and seven other fifties.

Ben Duckett also topped 1,000 runs in the Championship, while skipper Mullaney missed that mark by seven runs, but had his best campaign with the bat since 2016.

Among the bowlers, Luke Fletcher was unable to scale the heights of 2021, when he chalked up 67 first-class wickets, but Paterson improved in his debut-season haul of 51 wickets by adding a further 56. Patterson-White, the 23-year-old who has been tipped for a big future in the game, confirmed the promise of his first two seasons by finishing on 41 wickets as the most successful spinner in the division.

Nottinghamshire skipper Steven Mullaney:

"I'm relieved, emotional and very proud. After the adversity we went through in not winning a red ball game for almost three years and then the disappointment of starting this year in Division Two after finishing third in last year's format, it feels all worthwhile.

"The way we've gone about it this year, we've had probably only four or five bad sessions, which cost us two games against Glamorgan, and again at Worcester last week. But, apart from that, we've been there or thereabouts. That's not saying that we'll win every game.

"It's just the intensity that we bring and the right attitude. Even when we've not won, if you ask any fan or member who comes to watch, they'd be proud of the Nottinghamshire team again.

"It epitomises the club that, when Stuart Broad has got some time off, and had booked some time away with his fiancee, who is heavily pregnant, he wanted to play in this game. It wasn't a question of asking him - he texted me and said he wanted to play. Obviously we are very thankful to him for that."

Durham interim head coach Neil Killeen:

"Congratulations to Nottinghamshire on winning the Second Division title. They are certainly the best team we've come across this year. They've handsomely beaten us twice and deserve to be in Division One.

"We came here in a good vein of form and a good mindset. In the last four weeks we played well against Derby and had two good wins against Sussex and Leicestershire, but we're very disappointed with our performance.

"It has been a disappointing season. There is a lot of work to be done in the off season, and people need to have a look at what is going to improve them.

"We've had a lot of players absent, with injuries and international call-ups. That hits you hard, but we have to be strong enough to accommodate that."

Report supplied by the ECB Reporters' Network.