Durham hold nerve for one-wicket win to increase Yorkshire pain

Yorkshire's hurt goes on. Cricket revolutions might be caused by principles and beliefs, but they are fuelled by results. Those victories refuse to come for Yorkshire's new dawn and Durham's nerve-jangling one-wicket victory at Chester-le-Street will cause further resentment throughout the Broad Acres at the on-field failures of a county on the verge of bankruptcy.

This was a wonderful game, perpetually fluctuating, and often of Division One quality, even if the final memory for Yorkshire will be of pace bowling deficiencies that refuse to disappear.

Their hopes were cruelly raised after Durham had reached the second new ball with only two runs needed, and George Hill's second delivery had Matthew Potts lbw on the back pad.

With nine down, Brydon Carse, who is awaiting scan results on a back injury, came out with a runner. Hill rapped him on the hand first ball, the next two were stoutly left. Carse then squeezed the last ball of the over to deep third for the winning runs, leaving Hill, who had a fine all-round match, to drop to his haunches in despair. Dawid Malan offered a consoling pat.

Yorkshire's winless Championship run now extends to 17 after Durham strengthened their position at the top of Division Two with a victory that owed everything to a ninth-wicket stand of 71 between Ben Raine, who finished unbeaten on 50, and Potts that was ridiculous in its ease.

Durham's promotion challenge looks set to last, although Carse's injury is a concern and Potts could conceivably get an Ashes call. There is a definite sense of well-being in the north-east under the supervision of the new head coach Ryan Campbell. When the England captain, Ben Stokes, comes from your own dressing room, his urging for positive, pressure-free cricket, is amplified.

Raine said: "Every game has been fun to be part of, even games when we've lost and drawn." Yorkshire did not look as if they were having fun. They looked as if they were feeling the pressure. It's hard to have fun when old men are arguing wherever you look.

Both in the previous evening, as Yorkshire unsuccessfully took the extra half-hour, and on the final morning, as Durham added the final 33 runs, there was no swing or seam to be had and the treacherous low bounce that Yorkshire had hoped for, and that had been responsible for many drag-ons over the four days, never materialised.

But there was drama as Jordan Thompson fell to the ground in obvious pain as he failed to stop a straight drive from Raine in his follow-through. It looked serious, his leg kicking the ground in agony, but during a lengthy delay the physio replaced a dislocated finger and, limping for good measure, Thompson caused general amazement by continuing the over.

Perhaps understandably, Thompson's body language was unpromising as Durham ticked off the runs with purpose and commonsense. Matthew Fisher, the one pace bowler of quality, lacked conviction and is well down on the pace that brought him England recognition, as if a succession of injuries have knocked him back. Shan Masood, beaten in his first match as captain, has shown little faith on such a slow surface in the lanky Australian, Mickey Edwards.

He began the morning with Hill, who had taken only 32 first-class wickets before this game, as well as entrusting him with the solitary new-ball over.

Criticism will mount in defeat with Ottis Gibson, the head coach, bound to be in the firing line as recognition dawns that they now sit bottom of the table. Many want him to supervise a successful renewal. But there are also many slighted supporters of old, who refuse to countenance any talk of racism, and who profess no longer to care, often in such an emotional way that it is apparent that actually they still care quite a lot. Presumably, the phrase "take your bat and ball home" comes from cricket and, if so, it's a good bet that it is Yorkshire cricket.

Gibson said: "There's a whole lot of different emotions. We did a lot of good things. In a game like this where things come down to small margins, it's a hard one to take.

"Our 17-game win drought is not affecting the players. We know we haven't won. I don't think we've been counting; 17 sounds like a lot. But we keep on putting ourselves in a position to win games. Perhaps we're lacking a little bit of toughness in key moments that can get us over the line. But from my point of view at least we're putting ourselves in those positions."

In Gibson's defence, he inherited a toxic dressing room after the fallout from Azeem Rafiq's accusations of racism and has done well to hold spirits together. In further defence, this narrow defeat was very much in tune with the seven previous losses that Yorkshire have stacked up since they began 2022 by beating Gloucestershire at Bristol. Many could have gone either way.

That win left the director of cricket, Darren Gough, looking fondly a tilt at the Championship that might be undermined by an ECB points penalty. Since then, they have suffered a series of painful reverses - 18 runs, 1 wicket (twice now), 2 wickets, 4 wickets. Only Hampshire and Surrey gave them a whupping last summer but they were relegated on the final day. Yorkshire have forgotten how to win.

As for a possible points penalty, disgracefully, it still hangs over them. The delay might be politically pragmatic as the ECB worms its way through the racism scandal, but is no way to treat young professionals trying to make their way.

Yorkshire have had only two longer sequences without a Championship win in their history, both of them occurring this century as the county's self-regard at its illustrious history too often failed to translate into results.

Their record winless run was 20 in 2008-09 and considering the altercations of the past two years, it is intriguing, perhaps even instructional, to reflect on some of those involved.

Michael Vaughan retired in mid-season, furious that Yorkshire tried to give him a farewell appearance before he was ready to announce the news; Matthew Hoggard was released at the end of the season and claimed to be sacked; Andrew Gale took over as captain midway through and in this volatile atmosphere a young lad, name of Rafiq, barely noticed in the corner of the dressing room, was trying to make his way.