Baseball Cleats

Durham 236 (Bedingham 101, Aspinwall 5-41, Lyon 4-59) and 134 for 3 (Lees 40, Aspinwall 2-27) need another 341 runs to beat Lancashire 357 (Jennings 115, Bruce 46, Raine 3-67, Stokes 2-70) and 353 for 9 dec (Jennings 155, Stokes 5-98)

Durham's Ben Stokes took five second-innings wickets for 98 against Lancashire at Blackpool but Keaton Jennings's second century of the match helped ensure that his side will go into the final day of this game as warm favourites to win their first Vitality County Championship match of the season.

Jennings was dismissed by Stokes but only after making 155 in his side's 353 for 9 declared, setting his former side what would a county record fourth-innings score of 475 to win.

Durham's confident pursuit of that distant target was damaged by Tom Aspinwall, who took two wickets in seven balls, and the visitors ended the day on 134 for 3.

Lancashire made the most cautious of starts to the morning, only nine runs being scored in the opening eleven overs of the day for the loss of nightwatchman, Will Williams, who was lbw to Ben Raine for one.

Jennings was particularly careful, taking 54 balls to score the dozen more runs he needed for his half-century, but his circumspection was justified on a pitch offering left-arm spinner Callum Parkinson plenty of help.

Stokes was brought on from the South End in the 15th over of the day and soon had a wicket when he trapped George Bell lbw for 17. Stokes also had Jennings caught at second slip off a no-ball when the opener was 75 but the England captain's initial six-over spell cost 36 runs as Jennings and Tom Bruce sought to accelerate in the second half of the morning session.

Having scored 33 runs off 16 overs in the first hour of play, Lancashire added another 82 off 15 in the second and Jennings reached his century off Paul Coughlin's last ball before lunch when he tucked the ball backward of square on the leg side. He became only the second batter after Warwickshire's Jim Stewart in 1959 to score a hundred in each innings of a match at Blackpool.

Jennings and Bruce had taken their fifth-wicket partnership to exactly 100 when Bruce was caught behind by Robinson for 43, but Jennings went on to pass 11,000 first-class runs on what became an unusually productive afternoon for Lancashire's batters.

Stokes returned to the attack and had George Balderson caught behind for 17 before he eventually had Jennings pouched at mid-off by Scott Borthwick for 155. Typically, the England captain was the first man to congratulate his former Durham colleague and he also dismissed Aspinwall to finish with 5 for 98 in Lancashire's second innings and a match analysis of 38-2-169-7.

Jennings declared when Lancashire's ninth wicket fell just before the scheduled tea break, leaving Durham needing 475 to win. Borthwick and Alex Lees made an impressive start to their pursuit of that goal by putting on 83 in 16 overs but Aspinwall then struck twice in his first seven balls.

First, he had Lees well caught low down to his left by Matty Hurst for 40 and then he bowled Colin Ackermann for a five-ball nought with a fine delivery that nipped away to hit the off stump. Three overs later, Borthwick was bowled by Nathan Lyon for 39 when he attempted to slog-sweep the Australian off-spinner and Durham ended the day still 341 runs short of their improbable goal with David Bedingham unbeaten on 31.