County Championship: Durham hold on for draw at Essex

A stoic rearguard action from Durham eighth-wicket pair of Ben Raine and Matthew Potts, coupled with an untimely heavy thunderstorm, essentially ended Essex hopes of pulling off a stunning last-day County Championship victory.

Raine and Potts came together at 96-7 with Durham still requiring 28 runs to make Essex bat again.

When a bolt of lightning forced the players from the field 14 minutes before the scheduled tea interval, the deficit had been turned into a narrow 19-run advantage courtesy of the biggest partnership of an otherwise dismal batting performance.

When the players came back for the remaining 9.5 overs in the evening, 4.1 actually being possible before the rain returned, Raine took advantage of spread-out fields to reach 42 not out.

Before the rain came, it looked like the old firm of Jamie Porter and Simon Harmer were rolling back the years to pull off a win that had looked unlikely at the start of the day. The seam-and-spin double act combined to rip through Durham’s fragile batting with Porter ending on 3-36 and Harmer 3-64.

Essex had thrown down the gauntlet by declaring on their overnight score of 457-8, which gave them a 124-run lead. Before Raine and Potts joined forces in an unbroken stand of 77 out of 173-7, it appeared a prescient decision.

The 14 points Essex collected from the draw eased their relegation concerns while Durham’s dozen keeps them in serious danger with two games to play.

In the end Essex were close to a third Championship win of an underwhelming season with an attack that was already without Sam Cook, nursing a broken thumb, and Shane Snater, who tweaked a calf while bowling during Durham’s first innings. It heaped a lot of responsibility on to the shoulders of Porter, but he responded immediately and emphatically.

Porter needed just 14 balls to make the initial breakthrough, Alex Lees beaten for pace. Six balls later Emilio Gay followed, also lbw.

Ben McKinney, who scored a well-judged century first time around, was another who struggled against Porter, taking 15 balls to get off the mark. He had only 11 to his name 49 balls later when he inexplicably left alone a ball from Harmer that went straight on and knocked back off-stump.

Durham tried to settle into full survival mode, but the pressure got to them. David Bedingham, for instance, faced 60 balls for 16 that included a six over long leg three balls before he top-edged a hook to deep fine leg off Noah Thain.

Colin Ackermann, in turn, took 19 balls to score his first run. But three overs into the post-lunch session, and with a guard outside off-stump, he went to give himself room to cut Harmer and ended up edging to Dean Elgar at slip.

Durham were still 32 runs adrift of making Essex bat again when Porter snapped up his third wicket, rapping Graham Clark on his back pad. And four runs later, Ollie Robinson’s 21 from 55 balls ended when he attempted to slash Harmer past point and was caught behind.

Raine and Potts then took Durham past Essex’s total 57 overs into their innings. And the pair had been together for exactly an hour when the players were taken off the pitch as the first flash of lightning lit up the darkening sky.

The players came back nearly two hours later, having already lost 24 overs. Essex had seven men around the bat when Harmer wheeled in, but could only watch as Raine thrashed a couple of boundaries and a six over long-on. But it was not long before handshakes were exchanged.

Report supplied by ECB Reporters’ Network, supported by Rothesay