Stoneman plays vital hand for Durham
On a day when 17 wickets fell at Chester-le-Street, Mark Stoneman passed 50 for the seventh time in his last 10 County Championship innings for Durham against Warwickshire.
13-Jun-2013
Durham 267 and 152 for 8 (Stoneman 83, Rankin 3-49) lead Warwickshire 209 by 210 runs
Scorecard
Scorecard
On a day when 17 wickets fell at Chester-le-Street, Mark Stoneman passed 50 for
the seventh time in his last 10 County Championship innings for Durham
against Warwickshire.
Stoneman rose majestically above a dismal team effort to score 83
out of 127 before he was seventh out and Durham closed on 152 for 8 in their
second innings, leading by 210.
Play began half an hour late following rain and there was some uneven bounce,
but there were not enough gremlins in the pitch to explain the day's two
collapses.
Warwickshire went from 59 for 1 to 116 for 7 before a stand of 72 between
Jeetan Patel and Keith Barker helped them to 209.
Durham led by 58 and when Keaton Jennings helped Stoneman put on 49 for the
first wicket they were in command. But Patel took two wickets to begin their
slide and there were two for Rikki Clarke and three for Boyd Rankin, while Ben
Stokes was run out when he was sent back by Stoneman and slipped mid-pitch.
Stokes had achieved a season's best with both bat and ball as he followed his
first-innings 61 by taking 4 for 49. He grabbed the last two with balls which
skidded through to hit the stumps, including Patel for a run-a-ball 53.
Warwickshire generally went for their shots and several batsmen got out
carelessly, starting when Varun Chopra who spoilt a good innings of 35 by steering a
catch to third slip. That was the first of three wickets for Chris Rushworth and there were two for Mark Wood on a day when Graham Onions was not at his best.
Skipper Jim Troughton was dropped second ball by Paul Collingwood at first slip
but after making 21 he wafted wide of off stump in the last over before lunch
and was caught behind to give Stokes his first wicket.
Patel began Durham's second-innings slide with his third ball, which
left-hander Jennings edged to slip. Patel also had Will Smith caught off bat and pad as three wickets went down for eight runs.
Even Collingwood could not stop the rot as he padded up to a straight one from
Clarke and Phil Mustard cut straight to gully in the same over to bag a pair.
Stoneman completed his 70-ball half-century with a straight drive for his
seventh four off Rankin and faced 116 balls before he chopped a Rankin delivery
into his stumps. Michael Richardson was unbeaten on 26 at the close.