Stone takes five as Warwickshire strike at feisty Durham

Stone takes five as Warwickshire strike at feisty Durham

Day 2 got under way with Warwickshire on 184/6, Jonathan Trott remaining on 67* as he showed resilience throughout day 1 in his penultimate match at Edgbaston. He was the glue that held Warwickshire’s batting together.

Durham elected to bowl first after there was a delayed start, due to rain around early morning, and capitalised on those ideal bowling conditions to take continuous wickets. However, Trott showed his skill to battle through the tough conditions and show just how much he will be missed at Warwickshire.

Durham started off strongly, as on only the 15thball of the day, Matt Salisbury bowled Trott for 79, sending his off-stump flying, after both him and Patel had shown a flurry of boundaries to begin with, ending a partnership of 46 runs between him and the captain. Then, shortly after Trott’s dismissal, Jeetan Patel was bowled by Barry McCarthy for 26 when he was done by a yorker, leaving Warwickshire at that point on 224/8 and picking up first batting point.

It was Olly Stone and Luke Chris Wright who pursued the acceleration by Warwickshire, in order to maximise chance of picking up utmost batting points, their batting thriving under the sunny conditions. They proceeded to put on an incredibly valuable partnership, worth 86 runs off 121 ball as they skilfully guided Warwickshire to their 2nd& 3rdbatting point before Stone fell whilst trying to hit McCarthy for six. Graham Clark caught him magnificently on the boundary for 38.

In the next over Ryan Sidebottom fell LBW to Patel without scoring, meaning Warwickshire were all out for 310. That they collected 3 batting points is with thanks to a flourishing partnership between Stone and Wright, with Wright not out on 54*, and a wealthy contribution from Trott earlier in the game.

In the morning session Durham seemed to give Warwickshire too many bad balls, which they capitalised on quickly, contrary to how disciplined and skilful they bowled yesterday. They did manage to pick up maximum bowling points, with McCarthy being the stand out bowler, picking up 4 wickets.

Durham looked to be making a solid start in their challenge of passing 310, as both openers saw off the first 18 overs, reaching 46 without loss. They intended on making full use of the ideal batting conditions, where sun shone on Edgbaston, and they looked comfortable out in the middle.

However, Warwickshire continued to make breakthroughs to halt any partnership Durham were building during the afternoon session. Stone made the first breakthrough, when Cameron Steel went for 19 when edging through to Tim Ambrose. Alex Lees then departed for a well-made 35 when he was bowled by Wright’s first ball of the match. Next Clark was caught LBW by Sidebottom for 14, his first wicket of the match.

One partnership for Durham did look to be building nicely, that of Will Smith and Michael Richardson, who put on 42 between them. Despite that, however, Warwickshire once again broke through when Stone got Smith edging at a wide one and Ambrose caught him for 45 to give Warwickshire their 4thwicket.

Stone proved to be the stand out bowler for Warwickshire throughout, as he exposed the frailty in Durham’s batting line up. He picked up the next three wickets by getting Axar Patel, who played onto his stump and went without scoring. He then struck by getting 2 wickets in an over, those of Richardson and Stuart Poynter who both got trapped LBW by the fast bowler.

Stone looked on fire bowling at 90mph and causing plenty of trouble for Durham’s middle order, collecting his 3rdfive wicket haul of the season, Durham losing 4 wickets for just 13 runs. He bowled very well in tandem with Will Rhodes at the other end, who was keeping the pressure on the Durham batsmen by bowling tightly, with a spell of 8 overs for just 11 runs.

McCarthy then joined Paul Collingwood at the crease, with the job of guiding Durham to a score that would be competitive in the match, rebuilding after a fragile collapse. He and Collingwood frustrated Warwickshire with a partnership of 59 runs off 102 balls at the end of the day, in a solid effort to get Durham close to Warwickshire’s total.

Ultimately, the day was edged in Warwickshire’s favour after the partnership between Wright and Stone earlier put them in strong position, leading on from Trott’s skilful 79. Their advantage was carried through when Stone bowled a magnificent spell and picked up 5 wickets, shaking Durham’s middle order.

Durham do have a good partnership developing between Collingwood and McCarthy, which Warwickshire will hope to break early morning. If it carries on, however, the class of Collingwood could put this game in the balance.

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