A stubborn showing from half-centurion Jack Haynes kept Notts’ Vitality County Championship contest with Durham alive on a gruelling third day at the Seat Unique Riverside.
Made to follow-on by their hosts after Durham quickly claimed the final two wickets of Notts’ first innings in the morning session, the visitors found themselves four wickets down and trailing by 203 with still an hour of the afternoon session to play, but Haynes’ four hour stint at the crease meant the match would go to a fourth and final day.
Lyndon James began the morning session alongside Brett Hutton at the crease, Notts 220/8, having clinched a well-earned fifty in the closing overs of day two, but he could only add a further six to the first-innings total before edging Ben Raine in behind to Ollie Robinson.
The final wicket stand between Hutton and incoming Luke Fletcher didn’t last much longer, as Robinson again gobbled up a fine edge from Hutton, this time off the bowling of Daniel Hogg.
With Notts 229 all out, and trailing by 302 runs, Durham immediately indicated that the follow-on would be enforced, and Haseeb Hameed and Ben Slater prepared to head out once more in search of the runs to rescue Nottinghamshire’s hopes of avoiding defeat.
They showed stubbornness in their opening partnership, amassing 52 from just shy of 100 deliveries faced, but Hameed was caught down his leg side by Robinson to give the hosts the early breakthrough they were looking for.
Slater looked to take charge from that point - McCann unable to repeat his first innings fifty after being caught in behind for a five-ball duck, and Joe Clarke falling lbw to Hogg 10 overs later - playing a highly patient game to reach 50 from 111 balls in the 31st over of the innings.
Disaster then struck, however, as an ill-fated run for a single was met with Slater being run out at the striker’s end, leaving Haynes and Montgomery to battle on.
And battle on they did - for more than 50 overs - as they saw through the remainder of the afternoon session and nearly the entirety of the 38-over evening stint, adding 96 runs to the board as they frustrated Durham time and again.
Having been at the crease for over three hours, Haynes found the leg-side boundary for a deserved fifty, but his batting partner succumbed to the new ball in the following over as Montgomery guided Hogg into first slip, before nightwatchman Luke Fletcher mistakenly left Ben Raine’s on-target delivery.
In came Lyndon James for a moment of deja vu, at the crease once more for the end of play just like 24 hours before, and he paired tidily with Haynes for the final two overs to see Notts through to stumps at 212/6.
Trailing their hosts by 90 runs, the Green and Golds will resume play at 11am on Sunday.