Nottinghamshire are in first class action again this week when they head north to face Durham at Chester-le-Street in the Specsavers County Championship.

The match will be played at the Emirates Durham International Cricket Ground, beginning on Wednesday 31st August 2016. As the match starts in August, the normal 11am start time will apply each day (Future matches this season will begin half an hour earlier).

Last week’s defeat to Scarborough has left Notts in need of a series of positive results from their final three matches of the season. After 13 rounds, they have 106 points and are 21 behind Hampshire and 35 behind Durham, who also have a game in hand.

Since Durham first joined the County Championship in 1992 they have contested 33 first class matches against Nottinghamshire and have a slightly better advantage in their head-to-head meetings.

Durham have secured 12 victories, whilst Nottinghamshire have won 10. A further 10 matches have been drawn and one match was abandoned without a ball being bowled.

Head to Head

Following Durham’s elevation to the first class ranks Notts have enjoyed mixed fortunes on their previous first class visits to the north-east.

In all they have played 16 Championship fixtures away against Durham, although only 15 of them have featured any cricket. The 2008 encounter was completely washed out with not a single ball bowled on any of the four days.

Of the other fixtures, Durham have won eight contests, Notts have been victorious in five (1993, 2002, 2004, 2006 and 2012), with two games ending in draws.

Last Time

Durham triumphed by six wickets when the two clubs met in the north east in May 2015. Put in, Notts made 245 in their first innings, with Riki Wessels scoring 117 after the visitors had been reduced to 40 for four.

Nottinghamshire’s four-pronged seam attack then dismantled Durham for just 163 in 48.4 overs. Vernon Philander, who had scored 41 with the bat, took three for 27, whilst there were also three wicket hauls for Luke Wood and Brett Hutton, with Harry Gurney taking the other wicket.

With a first innings advantage of 82, Notts built on that with several useful contributions before being bowled out for 178. James Taylor made 45, Wessels chipped in with an unbeaten 42 and Steven Mullaney made 33.

A challenging victory target of 261 had been set for the hosts but half centuries from four of their top five batsmen eased Durham over the finishing line. Mark Wood, who had taken four for 39 in Nottinghamshire’s second innings, made 66 at nightwatchman to add to 61 from Keaton Jennings, 51 from Scott Borthwick and 51 not out from Mark Richardson.

History 

The first match in the series of fixtures was played in 1993 at the Ropery Lane ground in Chester-le-Street and Nottinghamshire helped themselves to a huge victory inside three days. The winning margin of an innings and 157 runs was largely due to an astonishing turn-around with the bat.

Having been four for two early on, the visitors recovered to post 629, thanks to 130 from Paul Johnson and a career-best innings from Chris Lewis, who made a mammoth 247 and wicket-keeper Bruce French who posted 123. Together they added 301 for the 7th wicket, a county record that still stands. Lewis’ score remains the highest ever recorded by any Nottinghamshire number six batsman.

Two years later, in the first meeting at the Riverside, it was the hosts who came out on top, with John Morris – later to join the Trent Bridge staff – hitting the only century of the contest. 

A drawn match at Hartlepool in 1997 was ruined by the weather but since then all the other 12 meetings have been played at the Chester-le-Street ground, now a Test match venue in its own right.

Notts’ win in 2002 was built around a century from Usman Afzaal and they won again in 2004 with Russell Warren scoring a hundred after Charlie Shreck had taken six for 46 with the ball.

In 2009 Durham amassed a colossal total of 648 for five declared in their first innings. Michael Di Venuto and Kyle Coetzer combined with 314 for the first wicket.

Di Venuto eventually fell for 219, Coetzer made 109 and there were also hundreds for Dale Benkenstein and Shivnarine Chanderpaul. Notts were made to follow on after Liam Plunkett took six for 85 and eventually succumbed to an innings defeat.

Five years ago, unusually, Nottinghamshire opened their innings at Durham with two first class debutants. Handicapped by England Lions call-ups for both Alex Hales and Samit Patel, they gave opportunities to both Karl Turner and Sam Kelsall.  

In the 2012 Trent Bridge fixture between the two sides, Durham were permitted to make an official change to their starting eleven after Graham Onions had been omitted from an England Test at Lord’s.

Onions arrived at Trent Bridge at lunch on the second day just as Notts were about to begin their first innings. Replacing the unlucky Mitch Claydon, Onions proceeded to dismantle the home side with figures of nine for 67 and only had himself to blame for not getting all ten wickets as it was his direct throw that ran out the other batsman, Luke Fletcher.

Played For Them Both 

Nottinghamshire’s Will Gidman made only one first class appearance for Durham but featured in 16 one-day matches for them between 2008 and 2010.

The 31-year old all-rounder then spent four seasons with Gloucestershire before his move to Trent Bridge a couple of years ago.

Six other cricketers have played in first class matches for both Nottinghamshire and Durham. The first to do so was wicketkeeper Chris Scott, who played 63 times for Notts between 1981 and 1991, then moved north to join Durham for their debut season in the county championship.

Others to have represented the two counties include: Nathan Astle, Mark Davies, John Morris, Mark Saxelby and Will Smith.

Stats 

Highest Team Total

Durham: 648-5 dec (Riverside 2009)

Notts: 629 (Ropery Lane, Chester-le-Street 1993)

Highest Individual Score:

Durham: 219 MJ Di Venuto (Riverside 2009)

Notts: 247 CC Lewis (Ropery Lane, Chester-le-Street 1993)

Best Bowling:

Durham: 9-67 G Onions (Trent Bridge 2012)

Notts: 6-46 CE Shreck (Riverside 2004)

There hasn’t been a hat-trick taken in any first class match yet, between Notts and Durham.

Milestones

Amongst the Nottinghamshire players approaching first class milestones are:

Jake Libby (918) needs 82 runs to reach 1,000 in first class cricket.

Michael Lumb (199) is approaching the 200th first class appearance of his career.

Steven Mullaney (886) needs a further 114 runs to reach 1,000 in the county championship this year.

Harry Gurney (190) needs 10 wickets to reach 200 in first class cricket for Nottinghamshire.

Tickets 

For all match day information access the official Durham CCC website www.durhamccc.co.uk

Coverage 

BBC Radio Nottingham will be providing on-line ball-by-ball coverage, access via the link on the BBC Sport website or the BBC Sport app.