England have won all five of their five Tests in the North East
Monday 30 May 2016 11:15, UK
England are in Durham for the second Test against Sri Lanka, their first visit to the ground for a Test in three years.
England have played five games at the Emirates Riverside, sporting an impressive record with wins in all of them, triumphing by an innings in three.
Here's a look at those Chester-le-Street successes...
Broad blasts out Aussies
When Chester-le-Street last hosted an England Test in August 2013, a Stuart Broad-inspired England beat Australia by 74 runs to win the Ashes. Retained the week before with a draw in Manchester with England 2-0 up with two Tests to play, Broad had one of those spells seemingly only he can produce, taking 6-50 in the second innings to skittle the Aussies for 224 when chasing 299 to win.
It gave Broad match figures of 11-121 after a five-for in the first innings, but the Test didn't all go England's way. The hosts were bowled out for 238 in the first innings, with Alastair Cook's dogged 51 from 164 balls the only knock of real note. Chris Rogers (110) hit a maiden Test ton for Australia as they earned a slender 32-run first-innings lead, before Ian Bell (113) also hit a hundred to help set the visitors a testing chase, in spite of terrific second-innings figures of 7-117 for Ryan Harris.
Australia were cruising to their target though, racing along to 109-0 inside 40 overs. Graeme Swann (2-35) picked up Rogers (49) and Usman Khawaja (21), while Tim Bresnan (2-36) added the key wicket of David Warner (71) before Broad ripped through the rest of the order. Broad took 5-22 in a nine-over third spell - including bowling both Michael Clarke and Steve Smith - as Australia collapsed, losing eight wickets for 56 runs, the last of which was Broad's sixth, sealing a memorable win.
Bopara hits three in a row
Ravi Bopara, remember him? Absent from England's Test team for almost four years now, it's easy to forget that at one stage he looked set to be a permanent fixture in the side for the next decade, particularly as he scored a third straight hundred for England in this Durham Test against the West Indies in 2009.
An England team reeling from 51 all out in defeat to the same West Indies team in Jamaica mere months earlier, recalled Bopara for the fourth Test of that tour in Barbados and he responded with a maiden century, hitting 104. Though he missed the fifth Test, 143 followed in his next outing at Lord's, before 108 at Chester-le-Street.
Bopara put on 213 with Cook (160) for the second wicket as England amassed 569-6 declared in their first innings, before James Anderson (9-125) took nine wickets in the match to run through the West Indies - who were forced to follow on - in an innings-and-83-run win that secured the series. Bopara would play only seven further Tests for England, with a highest score of 44 not out.
Chanderpaul cashes in
The West Indies were the visitors two years earlier in 2007 too. A dead rubber with England already 2-0 up in the series going into the fourth and final Test, the visitors at least showed some fight, particularly Shivnarine Chanderpaul, who hit 136 not out in the first innings and 70 in the second.
Despite Chanderpaul's ton in the first dig though, England bowled the Windies out relatively cheaply, for 287, with Ryan Sidebottom taking 5-88. Paul Collingwood (128) then cracked a hundred himself as England built a 113-run lead, although Fidel Edwards (5-112) had helped reduce the hosts to 165-6.
Chris Gayle hit 52 and Dwayne Bravo 43 in the second innings, but Chanderpaul lacked support elsewhere, with number 11 Corey Collymore's 16 not out the next best. Monty Panesar took 5-46 to dismiss the West Indies for 222 - Chanderpaul the last wicket to fall, bowled by the left-arm-spinner - and England chased down their 110-run target with relative ease, winning by seven wickets.
Thorpey's 100th Test
An otherwise unmemorable Test against Bangladesh in 2005 is highly significant, if only for the fact it was Graham Thorpe's 100th in a storied England career, and would prove to be his last. England were preparing for the Ashes that summer and much pre-series debate centred around which two of Thorpe, Bell and Kevin Pietersen would make up England's middle order.
As we now know, Pietersen would come in and take the Ashes by storm, but Bell's selection was likely due to hitting his maiden Test century - an unbeaten 162 off just 168 balls - against a hapless Bangladesh in Durham. Thorpe himself looked fantastic in his final knock, scoring 66 not out in an unbroken 187-run stand with Bell. Marcus Trescothick had earlier smashed 151 off 148 balls to further add to the tourists' misery following their first innings 104 - Steve Harmison taking 5-38 on his home ground.
Once England finally declared on 447-3, Bangladesh made a better fist of things in their second effort with the bat, managing 316, with Aftab Ahmed hitting a run-a-ball 82 not out, and skipper Habibul Bashar 63. But Matthew Hoggard (5-73) ran through the lower order, taking the final five wickets as England won by an innings and 27 runs.
Johnson's dream debut
The 2003 series against Zimbabwe saw the emergence of two new England fast bowlers who tore through the touring Zimbabweans. One has gone on to 443 Test wickets and counting, and the other is Richard Johnson.
James Anderson (5-73) had burst onto the scene with a first-innings five-for in the first Test win at Lord's, while Johnson went one better on his debut in Durham, taking 6-33 to dismantle Zimbabwe for 94 all out in response to England's first-innings 418 - Anthony McGrath top-scoring with 81.
Johnson couldn't add to his tally as Zimbabwe followed on, but managed nine further wickets in his second Test against Bangladesh later that winter before struggling in his third in Sri Lanka and subsequently being dropped from the side. Anderson again took centre stage in Durham with 4-55 as England dismissed Zimbabwe for 253 and won the first ever Chester-le-Street Test by an innings and 69 runs.
Watch live coverage of the second Investec Test between England and Sri Lanka at Emirates Riverside on Sky Sports 2.
