Durham see off leaders

Blackwell: three wickets

LV County Championship - Division One
Emirates Durham ICG
Durham 372 (P Mustard 120, S G Borthwick 68, M D Stoneman 67, I D Blackwell 59, A R Adams 5-92) & 301-6 decl (G J Muchall 111, D M Benkenstein 58, I D Blackwell 50) beat Nottinghamshire 343 (C M W Read 56, A D Brown 52) & 180 (SJ Mullaney 64, B Harmison 4-70).
Durham 22 pts, Notts 6 pts

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Nottinghamshire are still on course for the title despite crashing to a 210-run defeat against Durham at Chester-le-Street.

Notts took six points from the match and with two games left, lead Somerset by 22, with Yorkshire, who go to Trent Bridge next week, a further three adrift.

After being set a victory target of 391 in 78 overs, on a pitch on which Durham added 82 in just over an hour in the morning, the visitors' attempts to bat out the day were undermined by Ben Harmison's three wickets in four balls.

Alex Hales pushed forward and edged to Michael Di Venuto at second slip and the next ball, perfectly pitched and rising on off stump, forced Australian Adam Voges into an edge to wicketkeeper Phil Mustard.

The hat-trick ball was short and wide, allowing Samit Patel to collect two easy runs, but the next delivery pinned him lbw on the back foot.

A stand of 30 between Mark Wagh and Ali Brown was broken by Ian Blackwell, who had both lbw and later had Luke Fletcher caught at silly mid-off to finish with three for 23 in 19 overs.

Harmison had four for 70, his final victim being Chris Read, who edged low to substitute Gareth Breese at third slip.

Andre Adams skied a catch to mid-on off Mitch Claydon, while Steven Mullaney was last out for 64, skying an attempted pull off Scott Borthwick 10 minutes before the start of the final hour.

Day Three

There is still nothing between the two sides at the Emirates Durham ICG, with the hosts leading Notts by 308 with five wickets left heading into what should be a thrilling final day.

Champions-elect Nottinghamshire made 343 in their first innings to trail by 29, and then Gordon Muchall led the Durham response with his 111 as they made 279-5 at the close.

The leaders were wilting badly in the afternoon sunshine, when Muchall and Dale Benkenstein were putting on 144 in 30 overs, but Samit Patel halted the spree by taking three wickets.

Muchall made his second century since being recalled to the side in mid-season, and he raced to 50 off 52 balls when helped by an injury to Darren Pattinson - who came into the match as the replacement for Ryan Sidebottom, who had to link up with the England Twenty20 squad.

Patel also had Benkenstein stumped for 58 and forced Ben Harmison to play on for 11, as Ian Blackwell closed unbeaten on 50 and Phil Mustard on 13.

Durham will be looking to set a target of at least 350, but unless they are bowled out they will face a tricky decision over when to declare on a pitch still full of runs.

Day Two

Title-chasing Nottinghamshire trail defending champions Durham by 115 runs with only four first-innings wickets left after a closely-fought second day at Emirates Durham ICG.

The visitors began the day brightly as they dismissed Durham for 372 after skittling their last four wickets for only 10 runs.

Skipper Phil Mustard added only three to his overnight total of 117 before he was caught behind by Chris Read off the bowling of Ryan Sidebottom (3-100).

Andre Adams, who finished as the pick of the bowlers with figures of 5-92, then combined with Sidebottom to quickly get rid of the tail. Scott Borthwick was the last man out after notching a career best 68.

Samit Patel was promoted to open the batting at the start of Nottinghamshire's response but the all-rounder clipped a leading edge to mid-off in the first over to depart for four.

The visitors did manage to steady ship, with Mark Wagh (30) and Adam Voges (48) keeping the scoreboard ticking over slowly.

Ali Brown (52) and Read (56) then helped the cause with half-centuries but were both dismissed shortly after passing 50 as Nottinghamshire took three points from the day's play - one for bowling and two for batting - after reaching 257-6 at stumps.

Day One

Durham skipper Phil Mustard hit the fourth championship century of his career as he shared an unbroken stand of 159 with Scott Borthwick, to take his side to 347 for six against Notts.

Mustard finished the day on 117 not out, his highest score since making 130 in the first match of the 2006 season at Canterbury.

The visitors reduced Durham to 76 for four, but half-centuries from Mark Stoneman and Ian Blackwell began the recovery before Mustard took command.

The second 50 in his 131-ball century came off only 34 balls and included 10 fours as he and Borthwick swept into overdrive against the new ball.

On 82 Mustard hit three successive fours off Luke Fletcher, then in the next over he cut Ryan Sidebottom to the boundary and turned him to long leg for the four which brought up his century.

Championship leaders Notts had started well, with Andre Adams having Dale Benkenstein caught behind in his first over and surprising both Stoneman and Blackwell with his skiddy pace.

Full-length balls eventually had Stoneman lbw for 67 and bowled Blackwell for 59, both playing across the line, but Mustard remained sharp to the close.