Ben Stokes was dismissed for 95 on his County Championship return for Durham after his deselection from England's Test squad.
The England Test captain marked his absence from the national side with a timely innings, getting into the 90s before he was clean bowled by Northamptonshire's Harry Conway in the over after Tea.
Stokes was made unavailable for England selection for the second Test against New Zealand this week, while an investigation takes place into a breach of team protocols following the first Test at Lord's. Neither he nor Gus Atkinson were available for selection for the game, with Joe Root taking over as captain on an interim basis. England were set 463 to win in their second innings.
It's been reported that Stokes could return to the team for the third Test in Nottingham next week.
Ben Stokes narrowly misses out on Championship century
While unavailable for England, Stokes turned out for Durham at Chester-le-Street in their game against Northamptonshire. Durham fielded first, with a century from opener Ricardo Vasconcelos, who was dismissed for 187.
Northamptonshire scored 450 in their first innings. Stokes sent down 25 overs, returning figures of 1-80. His single wicket was that of No.7 George Bartlett.
After bowling Northamptonshire out, Durham were in trouble early. They slipped to 30-3 before Stokes came out at No.5 and launched a counter-attack. He reached his half-century – his 20th for Durham in first-class cricket – off 51 balls. Having reached Tea unbeaten on 95, he lasted just four balls after Tea before being castled by Conway between bat and pad.
At the time of Stokes' dismissal, Durham were 183-4, trailing Northamptonshire by 267.
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