A maiden fifty on First-Class debut for Freddie McCann wasn’t enough to kick-start a strong reply to Durham’s big first-innings score, as the hosts piled on the pressure on another testing day in Chester-le-Street.
McCann and skipper Haseeb Hameed looked on the way to a significant partnership at the crease before their link was broken at 96/1, and Notts struggled to find a foothold against the onslaught despite Lyndon James rallying with a half-ton late in the day.
The home side began the morning session resuming on 393/5 having enjoyed a successful first day at the Seat Unique Riverside, with Callum Parkinson and Ashton Turner resuming their quest for maximum bonus batting points.
With Durham approaching 400 and a third bonus point, Olly Stone had an early answer for the visitors and found the front pad of nightwatchman Parkinson in the second over of the day.
But the hosts held firm at the crease, Bas de Leede pairing up with Ashton Turner to put another sizeable chunk of runs on the board, taking just over an hour to muster a 100-run partnership as the latter became the third Durham player of the match to reach a ton.
The hosts had put on a further 138 from the first day’s score before Luke Fletcher finally broke the seventh-wicket partnership, de Leede caught at long-off by Olly Stone as Turner was called in for a Durham declaration on 531/7, with half an hour of the morning session remaining.
Ben Slater and skipper Haseeb Hameed came out ten minutes later to begin Nottinghamshire’s response with the bat, and the captain made intentions clear by clipping Neil Wagner behind for four at fine leg with the first ball of the innings.
Durham didn’t take long to get their first breakthrough, though, as Neil Wagner went through the gates of Slater with his 12th ball of the contest, and Freddie McCann entered the middle for his first County Championship knock.
On the back of some impressive white-ball form, the 19-year-old took little time to find his confidence as he sent Wagner to the boundary on three consecutive balls having only faced two dots.
McCann and Hameed paired up nicely from that point onwards, playing the perfect balance of patience and chance creation, but their double-act ended prematurely on 85 as Hameed feathered Wagner in behind to ‘keeper Ollie Robinson for 44.
Joined by Joe Clarke in the middle, McCann looked onwards to clinching his first fifty four balls later, cutting Bas de Leede away to the boundary on his off-side - making that a wicket and a batting milestone on his First-Class debut - but de Leede had his revenge from the following delivery, Robinson again made of use behind the stumps as McCann walked for a commendable 51.
A hero for Nottinghamshire on many occasions with the bat, a score wasn’t to be on this occasion for Clarke who picked out Parkinson at backward point for 3, while Matt Montgomery (c Lees b Wagner) and Jack Haynes (c McKinney b Raine) both also couldn’t get going.
The task of rebuilding Notts’ innings then laid on the shoulders of Lyndon James and Calvin Harrison, who put on the longest partnership by balls faced as the pair looked to slow down the unrelenting Durham attack, but their 48-run stand was broken when Harrison was trapped lbw by Parkinson.
Again James looked to make a partnership last, this time with Olly Stone who found the boundary off back-to-back deliveries from Ben Raine as the overs remaining column slowly ticked towards single digits.
But Callum Parkinson was in little mood to allow any partnerships to blossom, and Stone fell victim to the spin of Parkinson wrapping around his legs and through the gate for a score of 18, equal to Harrison’s contribution.
With Durham smelling blood, Brett Hutton - a hero down in Kent alongside Joe Clarke last year - locked down James’ opposing end superbly, allowing the all-rounder to bag a deserved fifty in the penultimate over of the day.
The pair saw through the remaining deliveries of the evening, Notts posting 220/8 at the Riverside ahead of day three.
The two sides will resume their contest at 11am.