Durham lead Middlesex and close in on promotion
Rothesay County Championship, Division Two, Banks Homes Riverside (day three)
Durham 252 & 374 McKinney 184, Ackermann 48; Higgins 4-79
Middlesex 203: Holden 43, Duke 38*; Carse 5-72, Raine 3-67 & 55-2
Middlesex (3pts) need another 369 to beat Durham (4 pts) with eight wickets standing
By Thomas Ridley of the ECB Reporters Network supported by Rothesay
Durham need eight wickets to secure promotion back to Rothesay County Championship Division One after Ben McKinney’s magnificent 184 reasserted the hosts’ dominance over Middlesex on the third day of their match-up at Banks Homes Riverside.
McKinney picked up from where he left off on day two as he had an excellent morning with the bat and while Middlesex took a couple of wickets, they couldn’t dislodge the Durham opener until the last ball before lunch as he made his second highest First Class score.
Middlesex struck back with the second new ball after lunch before a brief rain delay halted proceedings. A gritty 48 from Colin Ackermann then helped Durham set the visitors an imposing target of 424 after they were bowled out for 374, with Ryan Higgins (pictured) the pick of the bowlers for the visitors.
Brydon Carse then saw off both Middlesex openers to move Durham closer to promotion, but bad light denied the hosts the chance to pick up any more wickets.
Durham resumed on 204 for two, with unbeaten centurion McKinney and Mayank Agarwal the batters at the crease. In the early stages of play, Durham looked to build on their lead of 253 and McKinney added to his boundary tally as he nudged the lead towards 300.
However, Middlesex took two much-needed wickets as Tom Helm got Agarwal caught behind and Higgins removed Graham Clark’s off-stump to end the Durham man’s short stay at the crease.
McKinney remained in the middle and he passed 150 for the second time this season, with Ackermann joining the centurion in the middle as Durham continued to build their lead.
Their partnership passed fifty with Middlesex in desperate need of a breakthrough. They then got the key wicket of McKinney after a period of tight bowling. The 21-year-old departed for a magnificent 184 after he tried to accelerate the scoring off the bowling of Luke Hollman and he was caught when he mistimed a shot and it found a fielder on the offside.
Durham then lost another wicket after lunch, with Naavya Sharma getting Ollie Robinson lbw shortly after Middlesex took the second new ball.
The visitors then dismissed Kasey Aldridge, with Tom Helm getting his second of the day after the Durham all-rounder edged one to second slip.
The rain then arrived and it brought a quick delay with it, but the players returned and Ackermann along with Carse stretched Durham’s lead past 400.
Higgins then struck twice, with the Middlesex man dismissing both Carse and Ben Raine in quick succession. Ackermann then fell two runs short of a half-century as he was caught behind off the bowling of Morgan and that brought an end to the Durham second innings.
Middlesex’s second innings nearly got off to a nightmare start as Hollman drove a Raine delivery towards Clark at backward point, but he couldn’t cling on to a regulation catch. The hosts didn’t rue the missed chance too much though, as Carse got Hollman caught behind soon after.
Carse struck again when Sam Robson edged straight into the gloves of Robinson behind the stumps. The players then went off for bad light and play was abandoned for the rest of the day, with Durham needing eight wickets to secure promotion, while Middlesex need 369 runs to win.
