Nottinghamshire 312 for 9 (Patterson-White 66*, Slater 60, Clark 48, Rhine 3-54, Rushworth 3-68) vs Durham
Durham unveiled what was seen as the shortest boundary ever for a championship match at Emirates Riverside, scoring maximum batting bonus points to maximize their chances of a top-two finish in the first leg of the competition. In a desperate gamble to . Even the less observant spectators, who didn't notice there were two balls on the field, would ask and wonder what was happening. Never has a cricket structure been invented that does not ultimately surrender to the stato. No wonder people are watching football.
Despite having one of the largest playing surfaces in the country, boundary ropes were brought in to reduce the playing dimensions to 60 meters on either side. As Skulduggery goes, Durham's gambling was both legal and logical, but it strengthened the case for all those who would prefer to eliminate the bonus points system.
Third, Durham, going into the final round of the match, were 15 points behind leaders Nottinghamshire, and would have to match for bonus points simply by defeating them to qualify for Division One. At the end of a similar, tough but slightly bleak first day, Notts scored 312 for 9, Liam Patterson-White is unbeaten on 66 and seven short of a career-best and the match looks great. So far, so simple.
Artifice is related to the relative position of second-placed club Warwickshire, who took a nine-point advantage in their final match at Worcestershire. In this regard, it becomes more complicated. Trigger Warning: The next paragraph contains a discussion of arithmetic and may require concentration.
With 16 points to win and eight to draw, they could overhaul that nine-point deficit if Durham score more bonus points than Warwickshire. In other words, even if they only draw against Notts, but receive more bonus points, they could potentially finish in the top two if Warwickshire loses. (It seems impossible but you never know).
With bonus points weighted for batting (five of eight are available for scores above 400) the best way to score bonus points was to maximize first-innings runs. At a relayed square where Durham has scored only 400 runs this season, the club calculated that adopting shorter boundaries would artificially boost first-innings scores.
As the northernmost county, playing on a tough batting class, with normally large boundaries, Durham has to work harder for its runs; The bonus-point system, over time, puts them at a disadvantage. Therefore, they might argue that their cunning is just an attempt to balance things out a bit. For all that it was still a bit tasteless.
(While that paragraph was being written, TV breaking news coverage showed England's squad en route to the European Championship final at Wembley. The journey down the motorway has not received as wide coverage as the world saw in OJ Simpson's low-speed Police chases. Getaway cars from 27 years ago. Even watching the team bus occasionally change lanes was arguably more exciting than Durham's bonus-point strategy).
That first day never caught any attention. Chris Rushworth and Ben Raine, who were solid professionals to the core, took three wickets each, but Rushworth also may not have been much affected by having missed the kick-off and may have been keeping an eye on the over-rate. Matty Potts had that kind of loose day that came at an inconvenient time.
The Rhine saw the surface as a comparison against the Derbyshire game in the first season, where Durham only achieved 400 matches to be drawn.
As well as Patterson-White, Ben Slater made a fine contribution, driving regularly through the off-side during his 60s with often decidedly, sometimes windy—quite, sometimes interesting slips. Twelve fours ensured, as he said, that he "got value for the shots." Raine finally caught him at the crease by bowling him.
Joe Clarke is the fourth wicketkeeper in as many matches for Notts after Tom Moores, Ben Duckett and Dane Schadendorff. He is – or should be – England quality and made 48 in generally pretty fashion until he took a short, wide cut from Matt Salisbury. He has other things on his mind: He appears at Mold Crown Court on 25 July, one of five men charged in connection with an alleged incident in Wales last year.
At 276 for 8, Notts was in danger of missing one of those aforementioned batting points, but Stuart Broad held on long enough to reach 300 before popping the next ball at mid-off. Knotts could have declared to deny bowling points to Durham between those two incidents, but did not. There can be powerful arguments on both sides: Leave it to yourself.