Lancashire break duck with win over Durham
Ollie Robinson's score for Durham was his highest in first-class cricket
- Published
Vitality County Championship Division One, Stanley Park, Blackpool (day four)
Lancashire 357 & 353-9 dec: Jennings 155, Bruce 43; Stokes 5-98
Durham 236 & 414: Robinson 171*, Bedingham 103, Lees 40; Balderson 4-52
Lancashire (22 pts) beat Durham (3 pts) by 60 runs
George Balderson's heroics secured Lancashire a 60-run victory over Durham in their County Championship Division One match at Blackpool.
Durham were chasing an unlikely 475 to win and appeared on course at times thanks to Ollie Robinson, who hit a career-best 171 not out.
But Balderson's new-ball burst saw Durham slip from 380-5 to 383-8 before the all-rounder wrapped up the innings for figures of 4-52 and clinch a first win of the season for the Red Rose.
Robinson and David Bedingham both recorded centuries as they combined for a 216-run stand for the fourth wicket that put Durham in contention for victory.
But having reached his ton, Bedingham pushed forward to his next delivery and was caught by Matthew Hurst off Nathan Lyon for 103.
Lancashire's breakthrough brought Ben Stokes to the wicket with the visitors needing 162 to win.
The England captain took 22 deliveries to get off the mark with a reverse-sweep for four off Lyon and he then hit a four and a six off successive balls from Luke Wells' next over.
However, the leg-spinner had his revenge when he bowled Stokes, attempting another reverse sweep, for 18.
Lancashire took the new ball with the score on 362-5 only for Graham Clark's pulled six to take Durham within 100 of victory, but Balderson then took centre stage.
In one over, he had Clark caught behind for 18 and Paul Coughlin taken at slip for a second-ball duck.
Balderson then claimed a return catch to get rid of Ben Raine in his next over, before a mix-up between Matthew Potts and Robinson saw the former run out for two.
Robinson went on the attack but his 26-run last-wicket partnership with Callum Parkinson ended when Balderson had the latter caught at slip by Lancashire captain Keaton Jennings for a 17-ball duck.
Lancashire head coach Dale Benkenstein told BBC Radio Lancashire:
“We’ve got a lot of young players in the team and, for them be part of this win after what we’ve been through, is a huge step in their careers.
“We want to give chances to a talented cricketer like Tom Aspinwall. He’s got something different about him. It’s great that he took his opportunity
“And George Balderson makes things happen. He’s a great cricketer, very quiet but incredibly determined and has a really intelligent cricket brain.”
Durham captain Scott Borthwick told BBC Radio Newcastle:
“We had two outstanding knocks from Ollie Robinson and David Bedingham. They gave us a massive chance.
“But we have to ask ourselves if we could we have kept Lancashire under 300 in their first innings, and then there was that collapse in the first innings when we lost five wickets for 23. That’s obviously not good enough.
“We have to put this defeat to one side and move on. We were never going to go all season unbeaten.”
Report by ECB Reporters' Network
