Durham's Emilio Gay tonned up in a massive County Championship chase to further his case for an England Test cap.
Emilio Gay scores second century of County Championship season
Durham took on Lancashire at Chester-le-Street in the latest round of the County Championship, the hosts electing to field first on day one (April 24). Lancashire posted 370 thanks to Marcus Harris's 146, before bowling Durham out to take a 75-run lead. The visitors batted all of day three and declared at 260-9 after Paul Coughlin made an unbeaten 100, setting Durham 336 to win on the final day.
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Mitchell Stanley bowled Alex Lees in the 15th over, bringing Emilio Gay to the crease at 28-1. That soon became 46-2 as Ben McKinney was bowled by George Balderson. South Africa Test batter David Bedingham joined Gay at the crease, and the runs soon began to flow.
Match 24, Durham vs Lancashire
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The pair got to 99-2 by lunch, following which Gay got to a half-century off 81 balls, and Bedingham reached the same mark off 73. Durham's No.3 scored 74 runs in all in the second session, as his journey from 50 to 100 took only 61 deliveries. They were 233-2 at tea, well-placed to reach their target, albeit helped by Lancashire seamer Tom Bailey switching to off spin after they were denied their first-choice injury substitute of Tom Hartley for Arav Shetty, both spinners. Shetty was eventually replaced by wicketkeeper George Bell, who himself got a bowl later in the innings as well.
Gay and Bedingham needed only 17.5 overs in the final session to knock off the 103 runs that remained, staying not out on 159 and 129 respectively. This was Gay's second century of the 2026 County Championship, having made 128 against Kent in the opening round.
The left-hander, who can also open the batting, has played three T20Is for Italy and remains eligible to be called up to the England team. With much speculation over the future of the incumbent Zak Crawley-Ben Duckett pairing, a good domestic return this campaign could see him enter the race for a spot at the top of the order for the upcoming Test summer.
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