Durham 244 and 397 for 5 dec (Bedingham 138, Borthwick 75, Robinson 67*, Clark 50*) beat Worcestershire 184 (Libby 61, Potts 3-40) and 272 (Libby 50, Coughlin 4-45, Potts 2-57) by 185 runs
After defeating Worcestershire by 185 runs in the Vitality County Championship match at Kidderminster with one day remaining, Durham is enjoying their first win of the year.
Worcestershire was given a challenging 458 target, but Paul Coughlin’s early three-wicket burst destroyed any serious aspirations of victory. Even though Nathan Smith and Matthew Waite put up a fight late in the game, Matthew Potts cemented the lead and half the team was out of the game after just 28 overs.
The contest between the two promoted teams from the previous season was easily won by Durham.Playing on a batter’s paradise with a Kookaburra ball at Edgbaston following a wash-out in the opening game against Hampshire, their attack of Ben Raine, Potts, and Coughlin demonstrated their quality throughout.
After playing some great cricket in the first two matches against Warwickshire and Nottinghamshire, Worcestershire needed a wake-up call. Their assault did not bowl with the same consistent accuracy as their opponents, and among the batters, only Waite in the second and Jake Libby in the first two innings suggested staying in the game for any extended amount of time.
as 50 minutes of play, Durham was back on 319-5 as Ollie Robinson and Graham Clark blasted 78 off 13 overs to create the stage for the declaration. Robinson reached a 65 ball fifty after he pulled and straight drove Adam Finch for consecutive fours after reaching his first innings half century.
When Clark hit the same milestone from 91 balls, skipper Scott Borthwick announced that they would be packing up and leaving the house with an hour left to bat before lunch. In 28.1 overs, the partnership for the fourth wicket was worth an uninterrupted 132.
Gareth Roderick and Libby, the openers for Worcestershire, got off to a solid start, but in the last over before lunch, two wickets went in two balls. Coughlin bowled Roderick off the inside edge, and Worcestershire Club Captain Brett D’Oliveira completed a pair by clipping the next delivery straight to midwicket.
Rob Jones smacked spinner Callum Parkinson for an enormous straight six, demonstrating good intent right away. The same bowler, who was recently signed by Worcestershire, hit a straight drive for four to reach the century mark in 20.2 overs.
After sprinting to 39 off 23 balls, he was caught at backward point, giving Coughlin a third wicket. After a stretch of 6-3-14-3, Potts came back in place of Coughlin and struck quickly when Adam Hose surged forward and was bowled out cold. The run of wickets continued when Potts bowled Jason Holder (4) through the gate, and Hose then trapped Adam LBW.
After hitting fifty off 87 balls, Libby’s determined knock was interrupted by the following delivery. He attempted to block Raine’s hook shot, but all he managed to do was lobbing up a soft catch to midwicket.
Worcestershire was then 135-6, but Smith and Waite stood firm for a new record for the County’s seventh wicket against Durham, scoring 103 runs in 30 overs. It was better than the 101 at New Road five years ago by Ross Whiteley and Ben Cox.
Waite achieved his fifty off 110 deliveries after Josh Baker was caught behind cutting at spinner Callum Parkinson. Smith his fifty from 87 balls before pushing forward to Raine and being bowled. In order to offer Coughlin a fourth scalp, Waite (62) was finally strangled along the leg side, and Parkinson finished the process by accounting for Adam Finch.