Ben Slater hit a masterful double century before wickets were shared around the bowling attack as Nottinghamshire sealed a three-day LV= County Championship win over Durham at the Riverside.

Having resumed on 371/3, the Green and Golds suffered a morning stutter as Ben Raine found some variable bounce to take three wickets of four to fall before lunch, with Notts reaching the first break on 429/7.

Slater was the guiding presence throughout, though, batting straight through a fourth consecutive session to be unbeaten on 195* at lunch, and he cruised to his first career double century early in the afternoon.

He reached 225* and passed a total of ten hours at the crease, before captain Steven Mullaney called him and last man Dane Paterson in as Notts declared on 488/9, leading by 258.

Paterson and Luke Fletcher then struck twice each in the 20 overs bowled in the remainder of the afternoon, with James Pattinson also picking up a scalp, to reduce the hosts to 85/5 at tea.

The attack then combined once more in the evening to wrap up the innings in 34 overs as Fletcher and Pattinson both ended with three each, with Durham dismissed for 117 to confirm victory by an innings and 141 runs.

Earlier, the arrival of the weekend brought something of an uptick in the temperature, and for the first time in this game, the Riverside breeze felt more hospitable.

James and Slater began the day sedately, but were unable to add much more to the total before the former’s noteworthy knock was brought to an end on 108 as he was bowled by Matty Potts after half an hour.

On a pitch now offering a little more deception, Ben Raine then struck three times in quick succession, bowling Tom Moores in between pinning Mullaney and Liam Patterson-White lbw, to leave Notts 395/7.

However, a stand of 76 between Slater and Pattinson, who hit 37, steered the Green and Golds beyond 400 and to lunch, within which time Slater was able to set a new career best score of 173*, and then push on to 200.

He reached the double century with a single off spinner George Drissell shortly after lunch, and would go on to carry his bat, as following cameos from Fletcher and Paterson, the declaration arrived.

Fletcher then set the tone for the second-innings skittling as he removed Michael Jones lbw for four in the very first over, before Pattinson ended a swift innings from Keegan Petersen on 21 in the same fashion.

The third arrived when Paterson dismissed Sean Dickson for 19, again lbw, before the South African removed Durham’s key man David Bedingham as Haseeb Hameed snaffled a catch at short midwicket.

Ned Eckersley was bowled for nought offering no shot to Fletcher just before tea, before the seamer found more success immediately after the second break with another lbw, this time of Raine for four.

The end was nigh for Durham, and Patterson-White hastened its arrival as he removed George Drissell and Oliver Gibson either side of Pattinson gaining revenge on Matty Potts, who returned a six-for in the Notts innings.

Victory was then officially confirmed shortly before 6:00pm when Pattinson ended the resistance of home skipper Scott Borthwick, pulling the Australian into the hands of Patterson-White at square leg as the Green and Golds returned down the A1 with 23 points in the bag.

****

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