Yorkshire suffered more LV= Insurance County Championship frustration as Division Two leaders Durham succeeded in chasing down 246 to win a thrilling fixture at the Seat Unique Riverside by just one wicket.
The hosts started today’s fourth day on 213-8, needing 33 more runs to continue Yorkshire’s wait for a first win since the opening game of last season.
On a pitch which had become increasingly low and slow, ninth-wicket pair Ben Raine and Matthew Potts completed a crucial partnership of 71 before the latter was trapped lbw by George Hill with only two needed.
Injured seamer Brydon Carse, batting with a runner, then edged Hill for two to third-man to win the game four balls later. Raine finished 50 not out off 114 balls with three fours, with the match wrapped up at 11.50am.
Raine and Potts, who fell for 25, chipped away at the runs required, with Raine hitting two boundaries in Jordan Thompson’s first over to take the target below 20 – one down the ground and the other to long-leg.
Thompson went down with what looked like a shoulder injury trying to stop the first, and he seemed in agony. But he got up to continue bowling.
Raine reached his fifty off 110 balls, only the third half-century of the match. Hill’s second-innings 51 for Yorkshire was the first before Durham opener Michael Jones scored 56 at the start of the home chase.
Hill returned to the attack with the new ball with Durham 244-8 after 80 overs, and two balls later he trapped Potts lbw stuck on the crease to heighten the drama.
Unfortunately, however, Carse had the final say having been unable to bowl yesterday due to a trunk injury. Scott Borthwick came out as his runner.
Durham have now won three from five games, while Yorkshire’s summer has yielded two draws and two defeats added to the No Result against Gloucestershire at Bristol last month.
The county are still searching for a first Championship win since the opening game of last season, with this fixture bringing them a four-point haul to Durham’s 19.
This was the final four-day game before the start of the Vitality Blast on Saturday when Yorkshire travel to Edgbaston to face Birmingham Bears (6.30pm).
Yorkshire’s next Championship match is against Derbyshire at Chesterfield on June 11.
