Ian Blackwell and Scott Borthwick bowled Durham to the brink of victory over MCC on day three in Abu Dhabi.
County champions turn the screw on day three
Ian Blackwell and Scott Borthwick bowled Durham to the brink of victory over MCC on day three of the floodlit county season opener in Abu Dhabi.
MCC reached the close of the penultimate day at 156-7 in pursuit of a target of 526.
Slow left-armer Blackwell and leg-spinner Borthwick each claimed three wickets as MCC's batting line-up failed for the second time.
Steve Harmison (1-12) removed Scott Newman (5) with the new ball but thereafter it was all about Durham's spinners on a dry surface at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium.
Collapse
Blackwell (3-39) did the initial damage, claiming the scalps of David Sales (3), Dawid Malan (13) and Alex Gidman (17) to leave MCC in trouble at 45-4.
Teenager Borthwick (3-57), making just his second first-class appearance, then took centre stage with a triple strike of his own.
The 19-year-old sent James Foster (6), James Middlebrook (9) and James Taylor (39) back to the pavilion to take his match tally to seven wickets.
At 97-7, MCC looked likely to subside with a day to spare but Tim Murtagh and Jon Lewis fought back in the final 12 overs with an unbroken eighth-wicket stand of 59.
Murtagh (27no) and Lewis (32no) will resume on the final day with a further 370 required.
Declaration
Durham had earlier batted well into the second session to extend their second innings from an overnight position of 7-2 to 228-6 declared.
Phil Mustard hammered 50 off 67 balls but his dismissal, caught by Taylor off Middlebrook's bowling, left Durham at 103-6.
Kyle Coetzer, fresh from his 172 in the first innings, and Callum Thorp put on 125 in 24.4 overs to set up the declaration.
Thorp's unbeaten 79 came off 77 balls and represented his career-best score, while Coetzer finished on 52 not out to take his season's average above 200 for the time being.
