After the final wicket went down in Southampton this morning confirming Hampshire's defeat, all Durham had to do was bat out the final day at Headingley to keep themselves up in Division One for another year. Having started their second innings 129 runs behind Yorkshire, who had another innings to bat, seeing out the day should have been a simple task.
However, the collapsed dramatically from 29-1 from 85 all-out within 45 overs, with George Hill and Dom Bess each claiming four wickets. Durham had reached 27-1 in 23 overs by the lunch interval, with Emilio Gay the only wicket to fall caught behind off an inside edge to Hill. After the interval, Alex Lees was also caught behind for 19, before Ben McKinney and David Beddinham were dismissed by Jordan Thompson in successive overs.
At 62-4 with at least another 54 overs left in the day, that wobble turned into a full scale disaster. Ollie Robinson was trapped lbw by one that kept low from Hill, and Graham Clark was caught at backward point in Hill's next over. It only took four overs after that for the game to finish, with Ben Raine fell trying to hit Bess down the ground, Matthew Potts was caught at short leg and Daniel Hogg caught behind all in the same over.
The wicket which finished the game and sealed Durham's fate was Will Rhodes, who was pinned on his pads by Hill with Durham still short on Yorkshire's first-innings total. The result was Yokshire's fourth win of the season, with the margin an innings and 44 runs, after they too went into the game looking to avoid relegation.
Durham join Worcestershire as the two teams at the bottom of the Division One table. The North East county were promoted in 2023 after a stellar campaign saw them take the Division Two title. They finished fifth in the Division One table last year, but only managed two wins in their 14 games this year.
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