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Proteas batter’s 279 sets new first-class record for the county as one-way traffic continues as Chester-le-Street

ECB Reporters Network11-Sep-2024Durham maintained their complete domination of their Vitality County Championship match against Lancashire on a day when David Bedingham became the highest individual scorer in the county’s first-class history.Bedingham’s 279 surpassed Martin Love’s 273 against Hampshire in 2003 and his innings was the bedrock of his team’s 573 for 9 declared. Facing a deficit of 345, Lancashire ended the day poorly placed on 155 for 4 with Matthew Potts having taken three of the wickets. Keaton Jennings’ side therefore need another 190 runs to avoid their fourth innings defeat of the season.And it was a day when other records tumbled at the Riverside. Bedingham and Colin Ackermann’s 424-run fifth-wicket partnership set a new record for any wicket in Durham’s first-class history, easily eclipsing the 334 put on by Stewart Hutton and Michael Roseberry against Oxford University in The Parks in 1996.It is also the eighth-highest fifth-wicket stand in the history of first-class cricket and the second-highest first-class partnership for any wicket against Lancashire.The mammoth stand was eventually broken by the leg-spinner, Luke Wells, who had Ackermann leg before wicket for 186 in the fourth over after lunch. Wells then enjoyed more success when he had Ben Raine caught at backward point by George Bell for 17 and Bas de Leede stumped by Matty Hurst for four.Tom Hartley took his only wicket of the innings when he had Potts leg before wicket for four and the declaration was applied when Bedingham was caught at long-on by Anderson Phillip off Wells. He had batted 489 minutes, faced 359 balls and hit 27 fours and a six.Wells finished with respectable figures of 4 for 69 but was soon out in the middle again when he opened Lancashire’s second innings with Jennings. However, their alliance lasted only nine balls before the Lancashire skipper was caught at second slip by Ackermann off Potts for nought.Josh Bohannon joined Wells and guided Lancashire to 49 for 1 at tea but the visitors lost two wickets in five balls immediately after the resumption. Wells was bowled by Callum Parkinson when attempting to reverse sweep the slow left-armer and George Bell was caught behind by Ollie Robinson off Potts for a two-ball nought.Bohannon and Hurst then added 73 for the fourth wicket in increasingly untroubled fashion before Bohannon groped at a ball from Potts without moving his feet and was caught at first slip by Scott Borthwick. Hurst ended the day on 43 not out and he and George Balderson ensured no more wickets fell before the close of play.However, Lancashire have so far earned just one point from this match and their relegation fears will not have been eased by this third day’s play. By contrast, Durham have eight points with plenty of power to add more tomorrow.

Bangladesh ended the second day of the Test 101 runs behind with seven wickets left in their second innings

Himanshu Agrawal22-Oct-2024Stumps Seven balls after bringing the light meter out for the first time on day two, the umpires pulled the plug on the day’s play because of bad light. If that was somewhat abrupt, a third-umpire decision that took its time coming added drama to what turned out to be the last delivery of the day.Mahmudul Hasan Joy, on 38, decided to skip out of the crease to Dane Piedt, and missed the ball with his wild swing. The ball bounced a fair bit, and wicketkeeper Kyle Verreynne collected it in front of his right shoulder and whipped the bails off. The TV umpire saw multiple replays and concluded Mahmudul was not out – the bat was behind the line but in the air, but it seemed to have lifted after being grounded once. Verreynne’s expression showed how tight it was.Related

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• Taijul's light shines bright even as Shakib shadow looms large

The day belonged to Verreynne, who hit his second Test century in the afternoon session. That, combined with Wiaan Mulder’s maiden half-century and Piedt’s resistance from No. 10, took South Africa to 308 despite them being 108 for 6 at one stage. And with a cushion of a 202-run first-innings lead, Kagiso Rabada struck twice early in the second innings to have Bangladesh at 4 for 2, before a fightback from Mahmudul, Najmul Hossain Shanto and Mushfiqur Rahim.Shadman Islam and Mominul Haque fell for single-digit scores within the first four overs for the second time in as many days, as Rabada extracted plenty of pace and bounce with the new ball. His wickets came off back-of-a-length deliveries. In the third over, he got one to nip into Shadman, who inside-edged to short leg, where Tony de Zorzi took a sharp catch to his left. Three balls later, Mominul went defending but got an outside edge to third slip, where Mulder went low to grab a dipping ball.Mahmudul and Shanto added 55 to rebuild briefly, before Keshav Maharaj trapped Shanto in front. Maharaj got a full delivery to turn in from outside off, and Shanto, who had opened his stance up in looking to defend, was struck on his back leg, which was dragging towards off.Mushfiqur then hit an entertaining 31 off 26 deliveries in an unbroken stand of 42 with Mahmudul to ensure there was no further damage, although Bangladesh still ended the day 101 runs behind South Africa.Hasan Mahmud took two wickets in the first session•BCB

The advantage South Africa enjoyed was down to Verreynne. He swept every other ball that came his way, and when he finally missed one, he was stumped by Litton Das. That ended South Africa’s innings at 308 but by then, Verreynne had raced to his hundred. He took just 144 balls to score 114, becoming only the third wicketkeeper-batter from his country to get a Test hundred in Asia. Fittingly, the landmark came off a paddle sweep off Taijul Islam in the 86th over.Both Verreynne’s sixes were pumped once he was past the three-figure mark: one a slog-sweep off the wicketless Nayeem Hasan, and the other a pull off Mehidy Hasan Miraz. Just before that, Mehidy had broken a frustrating ninth-wicket stand of 66. Piedt, who batted solidly, nudged and pushed his way to 32 before he was trapped in front off the 87th delivery he had faced. It turned in and he was given out on field. Piedt reviewed, and it returned an umpire’s call. And immediately after Verreynne’s second six, Mehidy slowed the ball down to have him stumped.Earlier, the overnight pair of Verreynne and Mulder took their seventh-wicket to 119. The pitch seemed to have settled nicely for batting on the second morning, with no apparent turn available for Taijul. Verreynne particularly looked assured against Hasan Mahmud, who had started the day alongside Taijul, nudging the pacer past mid-on for three, and clipping and driving him for boundaries.Wiaan Mulder made 54, his highest Test score•AFP/Getty Images

Taijul then had Mulder poking, only for the outside edge to fall short of slip. That had as much to do with Mulder playing with soft hands as the slowness of the surface. Mulder and Verreynne adjusted to the pitch, and calmly did the job against the spin of Taijul and Nayeem.Both batters used the sweep and the reverse sweep to great effect despite Nayeem turning the ball in appreciably on occasion. That was down to them taking a good stride forward to get to the pitch of the deliveries, and playing their shots with confidence. They played 38 sweeps – or reverse sweeps – against spin on the second morning, and got 59 runs off them, including seven boundaries and a six.Bangladesh posted a man close in at square leg to prevent the batters from earning easy runs from the sweep, and yet Verreynne got to his half-century when he drilled one to the man there. Mulder then got to his half-century at the start of the 64th over, when he cut Nayeem for four behind point.Shanto had brought Mahmud back into the attack, and he struck back-to-back blows. First, he pitched on a back-of-a-length outside off, the ball holding its line. Mulder went for the punch, but edged to wide slip. Next ball, Mahmud went much fuller, reversing the ball into Maharaj and beating his defence to uproot off stump.But Piedt, who was in next, not only denied Mahmud a hat-trick, but also annoyed Bangladesh no end.

Barishal, meanwhile, picked up their first win of the season after beating Dhaka Division

Mohammad Isam03-Dec-2024Rajshahi Division upset the champions Sylhet Division, beating them by 54 runs in the last round of the 2024-25 National Cricket League. The result ended Sylhet’s unbeaten run, which had paved the way for their maiden title.Batting first, Rajshahi were bowled out for 226, with Sabbir Hossain hitting his third first-class century. Sabbir and Habibur Rahman Sohan added 119 runs for the opening stand but Rajshahi collapsed thereafter. Fast bowler Sofor Ali took his maiden five-wicket haul while Tofael Ahmed took four wickets.Sylhet were then bowled out for 212 despite fifties from captain Amite Hasan and Pinak Ghosh. Amite reached 700 runs in the tournament in this innings. Left-arm spinner Nihaduzzaman took four wickets, while Shafiqul Islam, Asaduzzaman Payel and legspinner Wasi Siddiquee nabbed two each.Sofor, Tofael and Nabil Samad took three wickets each as Rajshahi were bowled out for 186 runs in their second innings. Amite struck his second fifty of the match but it wasn’t enough as Sylhet were bowled out for 146 runs in the fourth innings.Nihaduzzaman took 5 for 24, giving him career-best match figures of 9 for 85. It earned him the Player-of-the-Match award. Amite, meanwhile, was adjudged the Player of the Tournament for finishing on 785 runs, and leading Sylhet to the trophy.Dhaka Metropolis finished the competition in second place after they beat Chattogram Division by five wickets in Rajshahi.Batting first, Chattogram were bowled out for 160, with the left-arm spin pair of Rakibul Hasan and Arif Ahmed taking four wickets each.Aich Mollah then struck 57 as Dhaka Metro finished on 268, leading by 108 runs. Left-arm spinner Ashraful Islam Rohan took four wickets. Sajjadul Haque and Nayeem Hasan made fifties as Chattogram reached 246. Arif took five wickets while left-arm quick Abu Hider picked up four.Dhaka Metro then completed the fourth-innings chase of 141 runs in 29.5 overs.Sylhet captain Amite Hasan was named Player of the Tournament•BCB

Barishal Division picked up their first win of the season after beating Dhaka Division by 122 runs in Bogra.Batting first, Sohag Gazi and Fazle Mahmud made fifties to take Barishal to 289. Rony Talukdar then struck his 12th first-class hundred, to help Dhaka to 310 for 9. Barishal got bowled out for 241, taking their lead to 220 runs.Left-arm quick Ruyel Miah then took six wickets as Dhaka were bowled out for 98.Fast bowler Mehedi Hasan Rana took eleven wickets in the drawn match between Khulna Division and Rangpur Division in Khulna. It was only the second 10-wicket match haul of the season, while it was the first of Rana’s first-class career.He took 7 for 31 to help bowl out Rangpur for just 133, in reply to Khulna’s 244. Khulna then declared their second innings on 147 for 6, before Rangpur batted out the remaining 55 overs to finish on 242 for 7. Rana took four wickets in the second innings.

Tilak Varma closed in on Travis Head’s top spot in T20I batting by going up from third place to No. 2

ESPNcricinfo staff29-Jan-20252:04

Buttler: ‘Rashid is the most important player for us’

England legspinner Adil Rashid has reclaimed the top spot in the ICC rankings for T20I bowlers, after his consistent performances in the first three games against India helped the visitors keep the series alive. Rashid starred with frugal figures of 1 for 15 from overs in the third game in Rajkot to register a 26-run win for his side. Prior to that, he had finished with 1 for 14 and 1 for 27 at the start of the five-match series.Rashid had first claimed the No. 1 ranking at the end of 2023 for about a year until Akeal Hosein had displaced him before Christmas in 2024.Varun Chakravarthy, who bagged a five-for in the third T20I on Tuesday, galloped 25 places to reach No. 5 place among the T20I bowlers whereas Jofra Archer went one place behind Varun by jumping 13 spots after taking five wickets in the three T20Is in India.Arshdeep Singh retained his ninth rank, Ravi Bishnoi slipped from fifth to 10th place whereas Axar Patel went up five spots to No. 11.

Full rankings tables

• Click here for the full team rankings

• Click here for the full player rankings

Among T20I batters, Tilak Varma closed in on Travis Head’s top spot by going up from third place to second with scores of 18, 72* and 19* so far in the series, although Head still leads by 23 points. If Tilak manages to overtake Head with good scores in the remaining two games while Head plays a Test series in Sri Lanka, he will become the youngest-ever player to top the rankings. Abhishek Sharma went up as many as 59 places but is still ranked 40th.

Noman, Warrican rise in Test bowling rankings

Pakistan left-arm spinner Noman Ali, who took a hat-trick in the second Test against West Indies, jumped four places to move to No. 5 among Test bowlers although Pakistan lost the match to see the series being leveled 1-1. West Indies’ Jomel Warrican rose 16 spots to be ranked 25th after his match haul of nine wickets compared to Noman’s 10.Jasprit Bumrah still leads the Test bowlers’ rankings while Joe Root is on top of the batters’ list.

Chasing 181 to draw level in the Ashes, England collapsed from 120 for 5 to lose by 21 runs

Alex Malcolm14-Jan-2025England captain Heather Knight believes her side needs to be braver with the bat following a calamitous collapse for 159 in the second ODI in Melbourne to hand Australia a four-point lead in the Ashes.England slumped from 68 for 2 and 120 for 5 to be bowled out 21 short of Australia’s 180. Their shot selection and execution was so woeful that Australia could afford to drop four catches and still win.There was a moment late in the match that will be scrutinised when set batter Amy Jones was 47 not out with England needing 21 off 13 with one wicket in hand.Jones had a free-hit off the final ball of the 48th over, which had to be bowled by Tahlia McGrath because Annabel Sutherland was removed from the attack for bowling two high full tosses in the over. Jones skied a ball to deep square and did not run, either forgetting it was the last ball of the over or forgetting it was a free-hit.That left No.11 Lauren Bell on strike at the start of the 49th over. Bell had survived 15 balls for one run but could not keep out her 16th as Megan Schutt rattled her off stump to seal Australia’s victory.But Knight was supportive of Jones in the aftermath, suggesting the rest of the batting needed to be braver.”It’s frustrating,” Knight told BBC TMS. “I feel like it was there for the taking. The wickets cost us. We need to be braver with the bat.”Amy was great at keeping us in the game. She was trying to face the majority of the balls and picking up boundaries when she could. Amy got us close but unfortunately just not close enough.”We’re really close. We just need to do a few things better in a few areas and need to be braver with the bat.”Alice Capsey fell lbw for 14 off 35 balls to Kim Garth•Getty Images

Knight’s assessment was slightly at odds with Alice Capsey’s in the post-match press conference. Capsey and Jones had steadied the innings after England were 84 for 5. The pair added 36 but took 77 balls to score them against some disciplined bowling. England then lost 3 for 5 in four overs and the required run-rate climbed to five for the first time in the chase.Capsey was asked whether she and Jones could have taken calculated risks to spread the field more as Australia kept extra fielders in the ring to apply pressure.”Potentially, we could have put the bowlers off their lines and lengths a little bit more,” Capesy said. “That’s something that we’ll have to reflect on. But in that situation, how we thought best to play the situation was to play the ball on merit. We knew that we were going to get balls to rotate the strike, and we knew that we were going to get some bad balls as well to punish. The difference between balls and runs required were big enough that, especially for me and Jonesy anyway, when we’re reacting to the ball instinctively and just playing the ball on merit, that’s us at our best.”So I didn’t think that we needed to over complicate things. In that situation, if we lost an extra wicket or too early, then maybe we get criticised for taking an extra shot too early. So in that situation, it’s kind of a no-win.”Capsey believes England can bounce back despite only having two days to prepare before Friday’s third ODI in Hobart.”There’ll be a lot of reflection, there’ll be a lot of disappointment tonight,” Capsey said. “But as soon as we kind of get back into our plans and reflecting and seeing what we could have done better, analysing it all … once we get to Hobart it’s a new day and we go again and we go at them, go at them just as hard as we can, and just keep trying to focus on ourselves. We can’t control what they do, but what we can do is we can control how we plan, how we prepare and what we want to do when we go on to the pitch.”

Saud Shakeel and Kamran Ghulam were also pulled up for celebrating too close to Temba Bavuma after his dismissal

ESPNcricinfo staff13-Feb-2025Shaheen Shah Afridi, Saud Shakeel and Kamran Ghulam have all been slapped with fines and a demerit point each for separate Level 1 breaches of the ICC’s code of conduct, after their tri-series game against South Africa in Karachi on Wednesday.Afridi was fined 25% of his match fee for breaching Article 2.12 of the code of conduct, which pertains to “inappropriate physical contact” with a player or someone else during a match.Related

• Agha, Rizwan smash tons in Pakistan's highest ODI chase

• Pakistan's first 350-plus chase, Rizwan-Salman's record stand

In the 28th over of South Africa’s innings, Afridi was seen stepping into the path of batter Matthew Breetzke as he attempted a run. This, as the ICC put it, led to “physical contact and a heated exchange between the two players”.That was off the last ball of the over. Just the ball before, Breetzke, after defending the ball, made a gesture with his bat, which Afridi reacted to by walking down the pitch and saying something. Breetzke didn’t back down, and the umpires were quickly at the scene.Off the last ball, Breetzke took off for a run after playing the ball away to the leg side and Afridi moved towards the batter. Breetzke bumped into him before completing his run.Shakeel and Ghulam, the substitute fielder, were fined 10% of their match fees for “celebrating too closely to batter Temba Bavuma following his run-out in the 29th over”.That was a breach of Article 2.5 of the code, which relates to “using language, actions or gestures which disparage or which could provoke an aggressive reaction from a batter”.None of the three had any prior demerit points.Pakistan won the match, chasing down South Africa’s 352 for 5 with one over left – it was their first successful chase of 350-plus runs in ODIs, and got them into the final of tri-series, where they will take on New Zealand on Friday before the action shifts to the Champions Trophy.

India play Pakistan on June 14 and Australia on June 28. The final is at Lord’s on July 5

ESPNcricinfo staff18-Jun-2025The 2026 Women’s T20 World Cup, scheduled from June 12 to July 5, will have Australia, South Africa, India, Pakistan and two qualifiers in Group 1, while Group 2 includes hosts England, defending champions New Zealand, West Indies, Sri Lanka and two more qualifiers. The semi-finals will be played at The Oval, while the final is scheduled at Lord’s.The 33-match tournament will take place across seven venues in England over 24 days. The tournament will have 12 teams, up from 10 in the previous edition in 2024. Apart from The Oval and Lord’s, matches will also be held at Old Trafford, Headingley, Southampton, Bristol and Edgbaston and will have three different start times: 10.30am, 2.30pm and 6.30pm local.The opening match will be played between England and Sri Lanka at Edgbaston on June 12. In a rematch of last edition’s semi-final, New Zealand begin their title defence against West Indies in Southampton on June 13 while Australia start their campaign against 2024 finalists South Africa on the same day in Manchester. India face Pakistan at Edgbaston on June 14.Other key Group 1 fixtures for India are against South Africa (June 21) in Manchester and Australia (June 28) at Lord’s. Pakistan take on South Africa (June 17) at Edgbaston and Australia (June 23) at Headingley. The Australia vs India fixture will be the final group-stage match of the competition.In Group 2, England will play matches across five venues, the most of any team. They take on West Indies (June 24) at Lord’s and New Zealand (June 27) at The Oval. Sri Lanka face New Zealand (June 16) in Southampton and West Indies (June 21) in Bristol.The top two teams from each group will make the semi-finals to be held on June 30 and July 2. The winners will meet for the title clash at Lord’s on July 5.Hosts England and the top five teams from the 2024 edition (Australia, India, New Zealand, South Africa and West Indies) qualified automatically for the edition. Pakistan and Sri Lanka, who were the two next highest-ranked teams on the ICC Women’s T20I rankings table on October 21 that year, made the cut too.The remaining four teams will come from the global qualifiers scheduled for early 2026. Bangladesh, Scotland, USA, Nepal and Thailand have already qualified for that ten-team competition. The Europe, Africa and East Asia-Pacific qualifiers are yet to be completed.

Left-arm seamer Jediah Blades has been picked in the absence of Alzarri Joseph

ESPNcricinfo staff06-Aug-2025Fast bowler Alzarri Joseph has been rested while allrounder Romario Shepherd is back in West Indies’ ODI squad for the upcoming three-match series at home against Pakistan. Alzarri, who had also been rested for the T20Is against Pakistan, will continue to have his workload being managed.Shepherd had last played ODI cricket in December 2024 and missed the ODI series against England and Ireland this year.Having been swept 3-0 by England in their most recent ODI series, West Indies, currently ranked tenth, are eyeing crucial points in their quest to secure direct qualification for the 2027 ODI World Cup.”Pakistan presents a different test and challenge as we continue our push for automatic qualification for the 2027 World Cup,” head coach Daren Sammy said in a statement. “The upcoming matches against teams like Pakistan, who are ranked higher, provide crucial opportunities to earn valuable ranking points to improve our standing ahead of the World Cup.”Related

• Forde to miss Pakistan ODIs with dislocated shoulder

• Pakistan and West Indies look to break out of their ODI funk

• Fakhar ruled out of remainder of WI tour

• Chase becomes first Full Member team batter to retire out in T20Is

In Alzarri’s absence, rookie left-arm seamer Jediah Blades has been picked in the squad. Blades, 23, has played just one ODI and four T20Is so far and is capable of swinging the new ball. The rest of the side has a familiar look.West Indies had recently lost the T20I series 2-1 to Pakistan but their ODI form at home is encouraging: they have won their last three series so far. The Brian Lara Cricket Academy in Trinidad will host all three matches against Pakistan on August 8, 10 and 12.

West Indies ODI squad

Shai Hope (capt), Jewel Andrew, Jediah Blades, Keacy Carty, Roston Chase, Matthew Forde, Justin Greaves, Amir Jangoo, Shamar Joseph, Brandon King, Evin Lewis, Gudakesh Motie, Sherfane Rutherford, Jayden Seales, Romario Shepherd

The rule will first be applied at the Duleep Trophy in the event of major injuries to players mid-match

Shashank Kishore16-Aug-20252:14

Should injury substitutions be allowed in Test cricket?

The BCCI has introduced a “serious injury replacement substitute” rule for in domestic cricket to prevent injured players from risking themselves further in the match. This applies to games that take place over multiple days and will come into effect from the Duleep Trophy, which opens the 2025-26 season on August 28. It will be active in the Ranji trophy as well, India’s premier first-class cricket competition.This replacement can be any non-playing member of the squad, should be like-for-like, and will need an approval from the match referee after teams are able to medically produce a report that underlines the seriousness of the injury of the concerned player. The injury has to have happened during the game and needs to be external (like taking a blow resulting in a deep cut or fracture) rather than internal (like a hamstring strain).This addition was debated within the BCCI circles in the aftermath of Rishabh Pant batting with a broken foot against England in Manchester, and has been swiftly incorporated into the playing regulations.The regulation states, “under all circumstances, the serious injury replacement player shall be from nominated substitutes at the time of toss.”Only in the case where the wicketkeeper is seriously injured and needs a replacement then the match referee may allow a wicketkeeper from a player outside the nominated substitutes if there is no wicketkeeper in the nominated substitutes.”Both the player being replaced and the replaced player shall be considered to have played in the match for records and statistical purposes.At present, international cricket only allows substitutions in the event of a player suffering concussion or contracting the Covid-19 virus.During India’s tour of England earlier this year, Pant (foot) and Chris Woakes (shoulder) suffered dislocations, which left their respective teams in a 10 vs 11 battle. Both players braved further injury to come out and help their team’s cause, which added to the debate about whether there needs to be place in the rules for substitutions in case of serious injury.India coach Gautam Gambhir was for it. England captain Ben Stokes was less so, arguing that the system could be gamed.The ICC, in reviewing its own playing conditions earlier this year, was open to the idea of its member nations trialling injury substitutes in domestic cricket.BCCI adopts ICC’s ball change rule

The BCCI has also adopted ICC’s new rule change in ODIs that phased out two balls in the format after 34 overs. The rule will be in effect from the Vijay Hazare Trophy, BCCI’s 50-over competition for senior men.”Each fielding team shall have two new balls for its innings to be used in alternate overs, i.e. one from each end for overs 1 to 34,” the new guideline states.”At the end of over 34, the fielding team will choose one of the two balls from the innings to be used for all the remaining overs of the innings. The other ball will be added to the stock of replacement balls for the innings.”

Keeper-batter’s first List A century for Durham was followed by Will Rhodes’ maiden List A five-for

ECB Reporters Network supported by Rothesay05-Aug-2025A brilliant century from Ollie Robinson and an excellent all-round effort from Will Rhodes led Durham to a 51-run victory over Sussex in the Metro Bank One Day Cup.Robinson’s counter-attacking century, which was his first List A ton for Durham, supported by a gutsy innings from Rhodes fired Durham to a total of 310 for 7 from their 50 overs, with Archie Lenham the pick of the Sussex bowlers.Sussex’s chase of 311 got off to a poor start as they found themselves 86 for 4 at one point, but middle order runs from Danny Lamb dragged his side back in the game.However, Rhodes secured Durham the opening day victory with his first ever List A five-wicket haul.Sussex won the toss at a sunny Roseworth Terrace and elected to bowl first and they got off to a great start as Alex Lees edged a Fynn Hudson-Prentice delivery behind to Charlie Tear in the opening over.Rhodes and Emilio Gay settled Durham down after the early loss and reached 50 in the powerplay as the former produced a crunching straight drive for four.Rhodes then reached his half-century from 43 balls on his List A debut for Durham, while Gay started to show some aggression as he took the aerial route to find the cover boundary.Gay then tried to launch a Jack Carson delivery down the ground for six, but he was caught well by Ari Karvelas for 34.
Sussex then struck again as Lamb bowled Colin Ackermann for 14 to leave things finely poised.Robinson joined Rhodes at the crease and looked to be proactive as he pulled a Lenham ball for four and he followed that up with a cut shot on the back foot that went for four.Rhodes then hit the first maximum of the day as he gave a Carson ball the treatment with a beautiful slog sweep.Robinson then got his fifty from 47 balls, getting to the milestone with a six, but Rhodes fell four short of his century as Lenham got him caught at deep square. Wickets then came like buses for Sussex as Lamb got Ben Raine for six.
Despite the wickets, Robinson kept the scoreboard ticking over and picked up another maximum as he pulled a Henry Crocombe ball over the ropes.Haydon Mustard, making his first appearance of the season, also looked to move Durham towards 300 as he picked up a couple of boundaries including a lovely cut shot.Mustard then fell for a lively 36, but Robinson reached his century off 78 balls to take his side to a big total.
The centurion fell for 100 exactly, Ari Karvelas picking up the wicket, but Durham reached 310 for seven at the end of their 50 overs.Tom Haines and Danial Ibrahim started Sussex’s chase of 311, but it got off to a bad start as Ibrahim was caught behind off the bowling of Codi Yusuf for two.Durham cranked up the pressure as George Drissell got Tom Clark caught behind for 14.Haines showed a glimpse of some aggression as he reverse swept Drissell for four, however, Tear departed for nine after he pulled a Mitch Killeen delivery straight to Yusuf in the deep.Killeen then struck again as he got Haines for 23 as he chipped one straight to Ackermann at mid-on.Hudson-Prentice was frustrating Durham and he took a liking to James Minto’s bowling as he smashed one over the square boundary and out of the ground.Durham got the big wicket of Hudson-Prentice for 43 as he went for a second run, but a throw came in from Yusuf and Robinson whipped the bails off with aplomb.Oli Carter then hammered one from Drissell down the ground for six and followed that up with a four off Minto.
Danny Lamb then hit Ben Raine for six to boost his team’s hopes and he backed that up with a tidy flick off his legs for four a few balls later.Lamb continued his charge, dragging his side back into the game with some powerful strokes and reached his fifty from 35 balls.However, Carter departed for 38 as Rhodes got him caught behind to halt Sussex’s momentum. Lamb continued his assault on the Durham attack as he pulled a Yusuf ball for four, but Rhodes got another wicket, getting Carson caught and bowled for four.Rhodes got his third, removing Lamb for an excellent 74 to leave Durham on the verge of victory.
Rhodes then wrapped things up for Durham to bowl Sussex out for 259 and he finished with figures of 5 for 30.