Report: Warwickshire v Durham, Specsavers County Championship

Day Four

Keaton Jennings’ resolute century steered Durham to a four-wicket victory over Warwickshire before lunch on the final day of their Specsavers County Championship match at Edgbaston.

After resuming on the last morning on 154 for four, chasing 238, Durham eased to 238 for six thanks principally to Jennings’ steadfast 113 (228 balls, 14 fours, one six) – his third century of the season and eighth in first-class cricket.

The 23-year-old’s fifth-wicket partnership of 111 in 36 overs with captain Paul Collingwood (44, 124 balls, four fours) completed a superb fightback by Durham. Both fell to spinner Jeetan Patel shortly before the end but they had taken their side to the brink of victory.

In this game there was a brilliant hundred from Andy Umeed and a special nine-for from Chris Woakes but we didn’t back that up

Ian Bell

Durham had been in deep trouble after two days, trailing by 123 on first innings. But they bowled themselves back into the match by dismissing Warwickshire for 114 and then, faced with a target which was far from a formality, overcame a Chris Wright-induced wobble to 87 for four to ultimately ease home against an attack shorn of first-innings destroyer Chris Woakes.

Woakes took nine for 36 on the second day before leaving the match to join England’s squad for the second Test against Sri Lanka. Without him, Warwickshire’s bowlers lacked the potency to avert their first championship defeat of the season.

Durham, meanwhile, were left to celebrate back-to-back victories and skipper Collingwood was delighted.

“At one stage we were well behind the eight-ball so to have scrapped our way out of it was very pleasing,” he said. “Woakesy’s nine-for was literally international class, it was like facing 90 miles-per-hour leg-breaks, and many teams would have crumbled under that and not been able to fight back. But we kept fighting and kept punching and to come out with a win is an incredible feeling because we haven’t had many good times at Edgbaston in recent years.

“The guys showed a lot of skill and desire and to have three seamers who with only a handful of games between them and to get 20 wickets against that batting line-up is an incredible effort. James Weighell has got nine wickets in the match and deserves to be on the winning side.”

Warwickshire captain Ian Bell reflected that his team had let the opponents off the hook.

“We have given that one away, to be honest,” said Bell. “We were so on top after day two but I said to the guys we still then had to go out and bat well. I don’t know if we were complacent or not but we let Durham back in.

“We have only ourselves to blame for that. They came out with a good attitude and bowled well and then batted well to knock the runs off but we have to look at ourselves – we let them off the hook.

“We wanted to set them the highest score of the game to win. I think anything over 300 would have been hard and a lot different in terms of confidence in their dressing-room.

“It was frustrating because we played some good cricket but we still haven’t really hit our straps this season and put in a big performance. In this game there was a brilliant hundred from Andy Umeed and a special nine-for from Chris Woakes but we didn’t back that up.”

Day Three

Durham have laid the platform for a remarkable fightback victory over Warwickshire after turning their Specsavers County Championship match on its head on the third day Edgbaston.

Trailing by 123 on first innings, the visitors bowled Warwickshire out for 114, 22-year-old seamer James Weighell leading the way with five for 33, to leave a victory target of 238.

That was no formality in a match in which the ball has swung throughout but Durham will resume on the last morning on 154 for four with Keaton Jennings (88, 184 balls) and Paul Collingwood (26, 70 balls) having added an unbroken 67 in 23 overs.

The fifth-wicket pair shored up the innings after Chris Wright induced a major bout of turbulence with a burst of four for ten in 23 balls. That flurry, one of countless vicissitudes in this enthralling match, put the home side back on top but Jennings’s measured batting sent his team into the final day requiring only 84 more to win with six wickets in hand.

Warwickshire will reflect with regret upon a second-innings batting implosion during which only Varun Chopra and Jonathan Trott passed 20

Warwickshire will reflect with regret upon a second-innings batting implosion during which only Varun Chopra and Jonathan Trott passed 20. One significant partnership would have taken the match beyond Durham but it never arrived as, resuming on 15 for two, they lost six wickets in the morning and the other two before lunch was properly digested.

Middlesbrough-born Weighell took his match-figures to nine for 133 with a five-for which included the wickets of Ian Bell, lbw to a swinging yorker, and first-innings century-maker Andy Umeed, caught behind. He also induced fatal edges from Sam Hain and Tim Ambrose before finishing off the innings when Olly Hannon-Dalby holed out to mid-wicket.

Chopra (34, 70 balls) looked closest to comfortable but fell lbw to an outswinger from Barry McCarthy. Brydon Carse delivered the key wicket of Jonathan Trott, who edged into the slips, and the young seamers were supported in wily fashion by Graham Onions who added the scalp of Keith Barker to the two wickets, very important ones, it transpired, he collected in the first over of the innings on the previous evening.

Durham’s pursuit of  238 moved serenely to 65 without loss at tea but was then hit by Wright’s fiery burst. Fast, straight balls did for Mark Stoneman and Scott Borthwick, Jack Burnham fell to a stinging second-slip catch by Umeed and Michael Richardson pulled to mid-wicket.

On a pitch offering the spinners nothing, however, Jennings and Collingwood batted with great responsibility to restore Durham as favourites going into the final day of a fine match.

Day Two

💯 last week & 8 wickets today for @WarwickshireCCC. @chriswoakes is back in the Test squad!https://t.co/ungUqw06RR

— England Cricket (@englandcricket) May 23, 2016

Chris Woakes headed off for England duty in scintillating form after ripping through Durham with a career-best nine for 36 on the second day at Edgbaston.

Woakes’s analysis was the eighth-best in first-class cricket for Warwickshire

The Warwickshire all-rounder departed the match at close of play to join England’s squad for the second Test against Sri Lanka but not before giving his county a great chance of strengthening their position at the top of the Specsavers County Championship Division One.

In reply to Warwickshire’s 313, Durham were bowled out for 190, dismantled by bowling of sustained aggression and precision which extended Durham’s recent history of batting collapses on this ground.

Woakes’s analysis was the eighth-best in first-class cricket for Warwickshire and the best for them since Jack Bannister’s ten for 41 against the Combined Services in 1959.

The good news for Durham was they kept their habitual nemesis, Keith Barker, at bay. Against Woakes, however, they fell in a heap.

Having scored a match-shaping century as captain against Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridger last week, the 27-year-old could not be in much better fettle as he prepares to step in for the injured Ben Stokes against the Sri Lankans.

With leg-spinner Josh Poysden replacing Woakes for the rest of this match, Warwickshire will aim to press home an advantage which has been hard-earned during two competitive and enthralling days.

Resuming on the second morning 273 for eight they were taken to a third batting point by a ninth-wicket stand of 52 in 19 overs by Jeetan Patel and Chris Wright before both perished to Graham Onions in successive overs.

I just hit my rhythm. I got the wicket of Stoneman and after that felt really good.

Chris Woakes

There was little sign of Durham’s distress to come when they advanced steadily to 62 without loss, but after Olly Hannon-Dalby provided the breakthrough by leaving Keaton Jennings’ stumps in a dishevelled state, Woakes took over.

He bowled Mark Stoneman with a beauty, produced a searing delivery to find Scott Borthwick’s edge, took advantage of Jack Burnham’s ill-judged leave and had Paul Collingwood caught at point.

Michael Richardson saw off that spell but when Woakes returned after tea, his second ball took the edge to end the batsman’s 97 minutes of strokeless resistance.

Woakes was irrepressible. He inducing fatal edges from Ryan Pringle, Brydon Carse and James Weighell and, after Barry McCarthy skied to long leg, left the field to a standing ovation.

A mesmerising day still had a wrinkle left in it. Just over ten minutes later, Woakes was leaving the field again, having opened the batting and been bowled by Onions’s third ball. Onions also castled Wright in a fiery opening over which showed that Durham, though down, were far from out. Warwickshire closed on 15 for two – 138 ahead.

Speaking after play Warwickshire all-rounder Chris Woakes said. “I just hit my rhythm. I got the wicket of Stoneman and after that felt really good. I probably felt as good as I have all year so it’s nice to be in that rhythm going into a Test match squad.

“To get a five-for was nice but then to finish it off with nine was pretty special. But there was some really good work done at the other end. The other guys bowled well all day and I thought we bowled really well as a unit. It just happened to be my day to take the wickets.

“It just clicked from that end after lunch. I didn’t try to do anything different to what I normally do but it was fortunately just my day.

“The ball swung all day which was nice. Yesterday we were 200 for two and that was a position we definitely didn’t expect to be in because the wicket did a bit but Andy Umeed got a great hundred. It’s a great cricket wicket and we have got a decent lead which hopefully the guys can build on tomorrow.”

Day One

Andy Umeed marked his Specsavers County Championship debut with an accomplished century for Warwickshire against Durham on a fluctuating opening day at Edgbaston. In only his second first-class match Umeed, selected in place of the out-of-form Ian Westwood, struck 101 (204 balls, 11 fours) as the home side reached 273 for eight by the close.

His well-judged batting lifted Warwickshire into a commanding position at 195 for one before Durham, who had chosen to bowl first, hit back hard through young seamers James Weighell (four for 75) and Brydon Carse (three for 59).

It amounted to an enthralling day’s play between two teams confident from excellent wins last week and eyeing up sustained bids to wrest the championship title from Yorkshire.

Durham decided to bowl despite the continuing absence of Chris Rushworth due to a buttock injury and for 50 overs it appeared their decision had backfired badly.

The 20-year-old had become the first player to make a century on debut for Warwickshire since Jeetan Patel in May 2009.

Umeed, who is on the short list of cricketers to have made their first-class debut in Stirling (for Scotland against Afghanistan in the Intercontinental Cup last June), was reprieved on 19, by Paul Collingwood at first slip off Graham Onions, but displayed impressive judgment and shot-selection. He added 120 with Varun Chopra before the latter, having compiled a fluent 71 from102 balls with nine fours, fell lbw to Weighell.

Either side of a mid-afternoon rain break, Umeed and Ian Bell added 75 in 19 overs but the flow of the day was reversed by a long spell of persistent accuracy and menace by Carse. Playing only his sixth first-class game, the 20-year-old bagged a pair of prestige wickets when he inveigled edges from Bell (38, 61 balls)and Jonathan Trott – and was unlucky not to take more.

Weighell weighed in with the scalp of Sam Hain, caught behind, before Umeed, three balls after reaching a ton which was greeted by a standing ovation, pulled Graham Onions to mid-wicket. The 20-year-old had become the first player to make a century on debut for Warwickshire since Jeetan Patel in May 2009.

It was great to open with Varun Chopra. He has got such a cool, calm head and makes it look so easy at times

Andy Umeed

The post-tea clatter continued as Durham’s bowlers enjoyed the fortune they had earlier been denied. Tim Ambrose and Chris Woakes edged Weighell to second slip and gully respectively and when Keith Barker nicked Carse to the keeper, seven wickets had fallen for 64 runs in 18 overs.

“Quite a few of the guys just said to me ‘look, you’re in the team for a reason, just go out there and do what you’ve been doing in the second team.’ I just tried to make a game plan and stick to it throughout the day.

“The ball did a bit all day. Against the new ball was probably the best time to bat because it was coming on to the bat nicely. It got a bit sticky later on.

“It was great to open with Varun Chopra. He has got such a cool, calm head and makes it look so easy at times. I was definitely nervous in the nineties because you are thinking ‘come on, you’ve got this far’. Thankfully I got over the line, I just wish I could have kicked on and been not out overnight.”

Come and watch the bears

Match day tickets are just £15 and it’s FREE after tea every day of the Specsavers County Championship. Don’t forget that Under 16s can also come FREE to every Warwickshire home game at Edgbaston this season when they are accompanied by an adult.