Wood, Hutton shine as Notts take charge

Nottinghamshire were dismissed for 178 in their second innings but in conditions still offering substantial help to the bowlers a target of 261 to win may be enough to give Chris Read's side a first win of the season and leave Durham to reflect on a second consecutive defeat.

The target will require Durham to bat much better, for example, than they have in the last two-and-a-half Championship innings. Taking into account their performance at Lord's last week, when they collapsed from 229 for 4 to 294 all out before being bowled out for 71 in the second innings, they have lost their last 27 Championship wickets for 314 runs.

Vernon Philander took the one wicket to fall in the six overs they were required to negotiate before the close, Mark Stoneman repeating his misjudgement of the first innings when he was leg before offering no shot.

Should the third day - it is unlikely there will be a fourth - see Luke Wood and Brett Hutton repeat their performance with the ball for Nottinghamshire, the pair having shared six wickets as Durham lost 10 for 98 in crumbling from 65 without loss to 163 all out, director of cricket Mick Newell might at last be able to fire some ammunition back after years of sniping over his recruitment policy.

Wood, a 19-year-old whippy left-armer, and the tall, strong right-armer Hutton are both seam bowling products of the county's academy system, nurtured in house rather than bought in ready made, even though neither was actually born in Nottinghamshire. Wood is from Sheffield, Hutton from Doncaster, although Newell might point out that neither of those Yorkshire cities is far from Nottinghamshire's northern border.

Three down for 69 overnight after losing three wickets in the final four overs on Sunday, Durham staged a minor recovery before another cluster of wickets set them back, losing three on 110 as Philander dismissed Michael Richardson and Calum MacLeod, bookending a first success for Wood, who leapt high in the air to celebrate as Scott Borthwick sliced to point. The position had worsened by lunch, when Phil Mustard's departure, playing across a ball from Hutton that hit him in front, left them seven down.

Durham's habit of losing three wickets at a time continued afterwards when Wood claimed two of the last three, finding the edge to have Paul Collingwood caught at first slip before sending Graham Onions's middle and off stumps flying in opposite directions. Wood finished with 3 for 58, 22-year-old Hutton 3 for 44, in each case a career best.

It gave Nottinghamshire a first-innings lead of 82, and while they were unable to build any noteworthy partnerships in conditions that still appeared to be making batting difficult, they were helped by Onions being out of sorts. Although he struck early to have Brendan Taylor leg before, his opening six-over spell cost 37 and when he returned it was to concede another 22 in two.

After Steven Mullaney had been caught down the leg side by Mustard off Chris Rushworth, Alex Hales completed a match of lean pickings compared with recent riches when Rushworth beat his defensive stroke with a ball that swung in and clipped off his off bail. Samit Patel, an academy graduate of somewhat older vintage, donated his wicket to Mark Wood with an injudicious hook but James Taylor scored what could be an invaluable 45 before a thin edge off Wood had him caught behind.

From 115 for 5, it was again Riki Wessels, sufficiently recovered from the bruised thumb he suffered making his first-innings century, who held things together, finishing unbeaten on 42.