[Ska'dForLife-WBA]

Day Four

Morning: An early pall of cloud enveloped New Road on Sunday, but if Durham were to make a breakthrough then it had to be early, and there was simply no way through the set batsmen on a pitch that offered precious little help to the bowlers. Azhar Ali was the first to reach his half-century shortly after noon; a well-deserved milestone that showed strong signs of the player we all hoped to see. Jack Haynes followed in good time with an edge down to third man, the fifty marking his best score of the season so far. Worcestershire went in to lunch on 161-2, requiring a highly nominal 281 to win, but more importantly seeing off a third of the day without loss.

Afternoon: Purists might make a case for positive batting when a team with eight wickets in hand need 140 a session to snatch a famous win, but with the new ball due at half past three and the Pears no strangers to a collapse, the measured and controlled approach was a wise choice from the men at the crease. To their credit, Durham stuck at the task and tried as many tactics as they could, but Azhar in particular looked assured against the old ball, unleashing some glorious drives and one masterful sweep to the boundary off Liam Trevaskis. It was a tremendous shame, therefore, when the new ball was taken shortly before tea and the Pakistani departed off the third delivery from Chris Rushworth with an edge to slip for 92. The new nut was zipping about, and it was clearly on the mind of Haynes, stuck on 98, that the interval would be a long old twenty minutes to dwell on the thought of those elusive two runs. What a relief, then, to see a streaky edge fly through third slip for the boundary that gave Worcestershire's young number four his maiden first-class century. The first, no doubt, of many.

Evening: Resuming on 234-3, 208 short of the required total, there was no real pretence of the chase being on. There was a bit of fun to be had here and there - with the three figures successfully accomplished, Haynes was willing to avenge the honour of Josh Baker a little by uppercutting the wicketless Ben Stokes over point, claiming a one-bounce four that was bare yards short of a six - but Brett D'Oliveira was taking no risks, and saw off the twenty overs of shine from the new ball with appropriate caution before the inevitable handshake.

Match DRAWN

The Verdict: Not the first time in recent years that a team firmly on top at New Road has been frustrated by a lifeless final-day pitch, and probably not the last. The moral victory goes to Durham for the first three days of dominance; the satisfaction, ultimately, rests more in the Worcestershire camp after a leisurely Sunday at the crease. There are questions to answer over the Pears attack, as despite a fair debut for Ben Gibbon in very tough circumstances, it's increasingly clear that we don't have the overall wicket-taking threat we had even two or three years ago, and at some point a real gun bowler is going to be needed if we're to move upwards. The top order has also been suspect at times, but those runs for Azhar Ali and Jack Haynes will hopefully have quelled a few butterflies, and fingers crossed they can now kick on.