Day Four

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Ben Brown reached his third-highest Rothesay County Championship score as Hampshire and Durham’s clash inevitably ended in a draw.

Brown ended up on 162, three shy of his first-class best, as Matthew Potts and Codi Yusuf shared seven wickets to bowl Hampshire out with a deficit of 41.

Alex Lees and Emilio Gay put on 61 around frequent rain breaks before hands were shaken on the assured the result at 15:50 BST - only 20 wickets have fallen across four days.

Hampshire remain unbeaten and move up to fifth having taken 12 points from the fixture, while Durham are three points of them in the table, with 13 points received from the draw and bonus points.

Any chance of the match not meandering towards a certain draw was a day of quick scoring and quick wickets.

Kyle Abbott only faced one ball, as he watched his off stump get catapulted by one that kept low from Potts – who was named in the England Men’s Test squad to face Zimbabwe.

Ben Brown had gone in at 143 overnight, but his final day aim seemed solely to be keeping Durham in the field as long as possible, with Brad Wheal equally happy to play along.

Brown reached 150 for the seventh time of his career in 257 balls but failed to score a single boundary in the 34 balls he faced on day four.

Wheal did strike two fours – well connecting with a pull and cover drive – but time in the middle was a more important factor to Hampshire’s approach than the runs scored.

South African Yusuf earned the rewards for Durham’s 155-over toil as he suddenly found some extravagant in-swing to extract Brown for 162.

The fast bowler then pinned Sonny Baker to end up with three for 83, with wholehearted Potts returning four for 84 in his 29 overs.

Hampshire were bowled out for 470, with an irrelevant first innings deficit of 41.

The use of the heavy roller between innings made sure that the occasional moments of lower bounce would not be a problem in the third innings.

Spinner Liam Dawson opened the bowling with Kyle Abbott in a nine over stint before lunch. Abbott bowled three maidens from his four overs, demonstrating both his accuracy and Alex Lees and Emilio Gay’s resolution to keep their wickets.

Three overs had been lost in a 15-minute delay before lunch and bad light and more rain after the interval killed an hour – and lopped another 11 overs – before the inevitable shaking of hands.

Off spinners Felix Organ and Tom Prest took over the bowling as things turned into a glorified net session for Lees and Gay, before another rain break kyboshed the action – with Durham unbeaten against Hampshire since 2015.

Day Three

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Ben Brown scored his first century as Hampshire captain to eliminate fears of an innings defeat to Durham in the Rothesay County Championship.

Hampshire were still 92 runs away from avoiding the follow-on when Toby Albert was the sixth man to depart, but Brown and Felix Organ ticked through the required runs with a 164 stand.

Brown replaced James Vince – who has moved to Dubai – as club captain in the winter and led from the front with a patient unbeaten 143.

Hampshire ended the day on 429 for seven, trailing by 82, with Organ, Mark Stoneman and Nick Gubbins also recording half-centuries – with Matthew Potts’ three for 62 the best for Durham’s bowlers.

The hosts have very little hope of winning the match after Durham had racked up 511 on the opening two days, and regular wickets through the morning put them in deep peril.

Stoneman only added three runs to his overnight 57 – which had been his first half-century sine arriving on the south coast from Middlesex – before he edged Potts behind off his inside edge.

Tom Prest was guilty of stretching too far outside off stump when he was caught behind, while Liam Dawson was bowled by a Potts delivery which kept a tad low – as the pitch appeared to be working slightly better for the bowlers.

The opening two days have been a turgid batting-fest with a used pitch not disintegrating has expected in the hot sun.

But some occasional turn for the spinners and bouts invariable bounce gave Hampshire’s batters a few moments of worry.

Toby Albert was more out-gunned by Codi Yusuf’s pace when he was bowled, as Hampshire’s fears of being asked to bat again began to raise.

But Organ, a highly competent batter who has opened the batting regularly in the past, was a welcome sight coming in at No.8.

Brown had bumped himself higher up the order from seven to five, seemingly to give more stability in the face of wickets.

He picked his moments to jab at deliveries in his textbook manner, while occasionally negating the lower bounce by crouching lower to meet the ball at its trajectory.

A half-century came in 102 balls before a fifth century for the Rose and Crown came in 178 balls – it was the 26th of his first-class career.

Hampshire only picked up two batting bonus points, but at 17:00 BST their deficit had dipped under 150 and the game felt safer – only a monumental effort could stop this match from becoming a draw.

Organ, on his first appearance of the summer, reached his half-century in 124 deliveries but fell when he edged George Drissell to first slip.

His partnership with Brown was the highest seventh wicket stand for Hampshire against Durham almost doubling a 2007 record set by Michael Brown and Shane Warne.

Day Two

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Graham Clark bagged a career-best 160 as Durham scored 511 on a Utilita Bowl batting paradise in the Rothesay County Championship.

Batter Clark continued Durham’s heavy run-scoring in the sun, with George Drissell scoring 69 and Codi Yusuf 44 not out.

Wisden Cricketer of the Year Liam Dawson toiled away for 48 overs and was rewarded with his first five-wicket haul of the season.

Hampshire replied by reaching 112 for one at close, 399 runs in arrears, with Durham old boy Mark Stoneman grinding out 54.

Durham resumed on 330 for five and by lunch had added another 104, with only two more wickets lost, in a run-fest session.

While the heat had gone out of the sun, the sky was still dominated by blue, and any moisture that had started in the pitch had long since evaporated.

Simply, it was perfect conditions for batting, and Durham didn’t fumble their elemental good fortune.

Hampshire’s only means of trying to negate a constant flow of runs was by bowling straight with negative umbrella fields. Their main hope of taking wickets was through batter error, rather than relying on their skill.

Clark had proved on day one he was not giving his wicket away. He started the day on 110 and bedded in for the long haul again.

The first landmark on his bucket list was beating his first-class best of 128, before going past older brother Jordan’s Championship high of 140 and quickly his own professional best of 141, then came 150 – which was surpassed in 287 deliveries.

In the Clark household, he now has the bragging rights of highest score and more centuries – five v four. Surrey all-rounder Jordan will likely never relinquish his wicket-taking lead through (261 against two with the red ball).

During his 309-ball stay, there were just seven appeals against him, none of them were more than half-hearted.

Clark’s innings was chanceless and high-quality, but facilitated by those around him.

Ollie Robinson had recovered Durham’s innings – having been 82 for four – with 124 in alliance with Clark, before George Dissell continued his pre-season form with 165 for the sixth-wicket and a solid 69.

After that, Matthew Potts and Codi Yusuf both put on 41 with Clark.

Patience was the name of the game for Hampshire, waiting for rare missteps, with Dawson the man taking advantage.

The left-arm spinner sent down an exhaustive 48 overs, with absolutely no spin to help him, but with perseverance came wickets.

He’d dismissed Robinson on the opening day before bowling a reverse sweeping Drissell and had Potts caught at short fine leg off a top edge.

Dawson finally saw the end of Clark for 160 with a sensational one-handed caught and bowled, ahead of Callum Parkinson edging to first slip to bring up his 15th first-class five-for.

Durham’s tail wagged, with Yusuf wagging the hardest with an unbeaten 44, as Durham’s fun in the sun was finally ended when Brendan Doggett turned Felix Organ around the corner.

Given 43 overs to negotiate after tea, Fletcha Middleton took Potts for four boundaries, before the England fast bowler – who yesterday was selected for the Test against Zimbabwe later this month – exacted his revenge by finding an edge to first slip.

Doggett sent down three maidens in a row before conceding his first run, but soon after landed on a ball while fielding and had to go off.

Like the Durham batters before them, Stoneman and Gubbins were completely untroubled, especially as the ball aged.

Stoneman reached fifty for the 105th time in his career as his partnership with Gubbins went in overnight unbroken on 95.

Day One

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Graham Clark celebrated his fifth Rothesay County Championship century with a pristine innings to put Durham in charge against Hampshire.

Batter Clark led Durham’s run surge, having been 82 for four, with partnerships of 124 with Ollie Robinson, who scored 76, and 124 unbroken with George Drissell - who reached close on 58 not out.

Clark - who hadn't reached three figures since 2023 - ended the day unbeaten on 110, with Durham following up their victory over Worcestershire by totting up 330 for five under the sun at Utilita Bowl.

Hampshire’s Kyle Abbott was the star of the morning session, as his three wickets put Hampshire on top, after Durham had chosen to bat first on a wicket previously used in the Metro Bank One-Day Cup women’s competition under perfect blue skies.

Emilio Gay – who returned from injury – had played with intent but his heavy hands cost him as he pushed away from his body and edged to second slip after a 16-ball 19.

Will Rhodes was more circumspect in his 22 but fell for Abbott’s midwicket trap, as the South African bowled into the left-hander’s ribs to produce a pull to the prowling Felix Organ.

Alex Lees had been the equal to Abbott in his first spell, but a change of ends and coming wider of the crease saw the bowler win the battle. The new angle exploited a gap between bat and pad to find a route into his stumps.

The 80 for three at lunch became 82 for four 12 balls afterwards as Colin Ackermann swished at Brad Wheal and was caught behind.

But a mixture of a softening ball, even hotter weather, and two batters who made batting look like child’s play evened up the afternoon session.

Neither Robinson nor Clark ever seemed to actively attack the bowler, merely waited for opportunities to keep a constant flow of runs.

Having scored almost 900 runs last season – at an average of 48 – Robinson’s only contribution over 20 so far this season had been the unbeaten 22 which got his side over the line against Worcestershire last week.

Four of his six dismissals had been as a result of either edging or falsely playing outside his off stump, but here he was tight, disciplined and decisive in the corridor of uncertainty.

That extra patience against pace was rewarded once he faced Liam Dawson – taking the newly awarded Wisden Cricketer of the Year for three boundaries in a row as he closed in on his half centuries in 66 deliveries.

Clark – who was also not out in the chase at Visit Worcestershire New Road – was the more watchful of the pair, but wary, having got a start in each of his innings of 46, 62, 33, 16 and 20* but not progressing to three figures.

The only time he truly let loose was against Sonny Baker. The quick honoured a bounder ploy and was taking for a quartet of fours in succession. Otherwise, he was humble in his 81-ball fifty.

Robinson misstepped when his swing across the line to Dawson saw him bowled, to end a 124-run stand, while Drissell survived an early drop.

But from there, Drissell stepped into Robinson’s mould to build on Durham’s growing advantage.

Drissell came out after tea with a pep in his shot-making – as he tried to make the most of the older ball before the 80 over mark. His towering six back over Dawson’s head was the most sweetly timed shot of the day.

He made his maiden County Championship half-century in exactly 100 balls, and the second new ball caused no issues for him and Robinson.

Clark then took centre-stage as he brought up his first ton since September 2025 – and his first in Division One – in 188 balls to underscore an impressive fightback from Durham.