Durham 266 & 72-2 Nottinghamshire 268: Shafayat century sets up Broad's late strikes
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Your support makes all the difference.A fine century by Bilal Shafayat and a double strike by Stuart Broad helped Nottinghamshire, the First Division leaders, take control of this match against third-placed Durham.
Broad struck either side of tea, accounting for the stand-in opener Paul Wiseman, caught down leg by the wicketkeeper, Chris Read, then bowling Will Smith. Durham's top scorer in the first innings shouldered arms and lost his off-stump.
Things had started to go wrong for Durham earlier. Michael Di Venuto, their Australian opening bat, injured a finger when fielding – hence Wiseman's promotion.
There was also Shafayat, who has been moved up by Nottinghamshire to opener for the last two matches, a 5ft 7in player replacing a 6ft 11in one, Will Jefferson. Shafayat added to Durham's pain by reaching a landmark century – at least as far as his side were concerned. His was the first three-figure score by a Notts opener since Stephen Fleming reached 100 against Northamptonshire at Wantage Road at the end of July last year.
It was a special innings for Shafayat, being his first century in the championship for Notts since September 2002. That was in his first stint at Trent Bridge – he moved down the M1 to Northamptonshire for a couple of seasons before returning to the city of his birth last year.
On reaching his century yesterday the 24-year-old dropped to his knees to kiss the pitch. "It was a mixture of emotions, but mostly just a satisfying feeling," said the former England Under-19 captain.
"It is my first hundred for Notts since I came back, so for me it was a small milestone. I did want to get that knock at home, it has always been special for me playing here because it is a childhood dream."
Shafayat – who in 2001 became the youngest player, at 16 years and 360 days, to make his championship debut for Nottinghamshire (marking the occasion with a half century) – had had to work through five stoppages on Thursday.
Sadly he did finally let it slip half-a-dozen balls after reaching his century, being caught behind off Liam Plunkett. But he had displayed immense powers of concentration in a 172-ball innings featuring 19 boundaries.
Notts still needed a resolute stand between Mark Ealham and Darren Pattinson to edge them past the Durham total. Then Broad entered the picture.
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