Lees, Gay and Minto lead Durham fightback

James Minto, Alex Lees and Emilio Gay starred with the bat as Durham fought back on day two of their Rothesay County Championship clash with Nottinghamshire.

It was well and truly Durham's morning as Minto, who came in as nightwatcher to see out one over at the end of day one, became the county's youngest ever half-centurion at the age of 17 years and 172 days. He played beautifully along with his skipper Lees to take the hosts to lunch without loss.

Nottinghamshire hit back in the afternoon, picking up three wickets including Minto for an excellent 67 and Lees for a gritty 82, but Gay remained calm and composed in the evening to pass fifty and get his side to 320 for four at close, still trailing by 87.

Minto, who had only scored 40 runs in his four previous first class matches, looked the part with the bat as he dominated the Nottinghamshire bowling attack in the morning session with some lovely strokes and the left-arm bowler, who opens in club cricket, demonstrated skills that could see him develop into a genuine all-rounder.

Resuming on two without loss, Minto and Lees kicked things off in the morning. The former got the first boundary of the day with a lovely cover drive for four off the bowling of Brett Hutton.

The teenager frustrated the experienced bowling pair of Mohammad Abbas and Hutton as he played some nice shots including a delightful cut shot for four. He then played two more glorious strokes on the offside from the bowling of Abbas.

Lees was happy to be a foil to Minto's aggression, but he picked up his first boundary of the day as he guided one past third for four.

Minto brought up his first career half-century from 61 deliveries with his eighth boundary of the day, but Nottinghamshire restricted Durham before lunch with Rob Lord and Freddie McCann keeping things tight.

Nottinghamshire got the breakthrough soon after lunch with Hutton getting Minto for a fantastic 67 as he went for one shot too many, pulling one straight to Haseeb Hameed at square leg.

Lees went to his fifty soon after, with the milestone coming from 96 deliveries and he was joined in the middle by England Lions man Ben McKinney, who looked good in the early stages of his innings.

McKinney continued to underline his attacking intentions as he plundered a McCann ball straight down the ground to the boundary, but shortly after he edged an Abbas ball to Kyle Verreynne to depart for 28.

Lees continued to tick along nicely with Gay joining him in the middle and the ex-Northamptonshire man helped Durham steer the ship in the face of some tight bowling from the visitors.

Lees then picked up a rare boundary as he pulled a Lord delivery to the rope to relieve a bit of pressure and Gay followed that up with a nice shot through the covers.

Gay got a second life just before tea, after he edged a Lyndon James ball towards Joe Clarke at first slip but he couldn't take the chance with the Durham man on 30. However, they did get a big breakthrough in the next over as Lees was caught behind for 82 with Liam Patterson-White the one to get the Durham skipper.

Nottinghamshire's economic bowling continued into the evening session as Gay and new batsman Colin Ackermann struggled to find the boundary, but the latter broke the shackles as he drove a Patterson-White ball down the ground for four.

Gay was making the league leaders pay for the drop as he became the third Durham player to pass fifty in the innings, with his coming from a more attritional 113 balls.

The second new ball came for Nottinghamshire and runs started to flow for Ackermann who played a delightful shot off Abbas for four, but he then departed for 37 as he edged a beauty from Abbas to Verreynne behind the stumps to give the visitors a much-needed breakthrough.

Ollie Robinson joined Gay at the crease and played a lovely shot through the covers to take Durham to the 300 mark and the pair took Durham to stumps without further loss.