George Balderson rescues Lancashire as Durham falter in mighty run-chase
Bedingham, Robinson centuries come close to overhauling a hefty target of 475
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Lancashire 357 (Jennings 115, Raine 3-67) and 353 for 9 dec (Jennings 155, Stokes 5-98) beat Durham 236 (Bedingham 101, Aspinwall 5-41, Lyon 4-59) and 414 (Robinson 171*, Bedingham 103, Balderson 4-52) by 60 runs
George Balderson took four vital wickets with the new ball to help Lancashire secure a 60-run victory over Durham in their Vitality County Championship match at Blackpool.
Balderson's achievement overshadowed the contributions of more illustrious cricketers on each side. Nathan Lyon took one wicket on the final day, Ben Stokes made just 18, and the seamer's 4 for 52 also ensured that Durham's centurions, David Bedingham and Ollie Robinson, finished on the losing side.
That was hard on Bedingham, who made two hundreds in the game, and Robinson, who finished on the losing side despite making a career-best 171 not out. But the outcome seemed unlikely when the Durham pair were putting on 216 for the fourth wicket and taking Durham to 313 for three in pursuit of 475 to win.
The morning session began poorly for Lancashire. Robinson pulled Saqib Mahmood for two sixes in his opening overs and Durham scored 50 runs in the first 45 minutes of play. It was just on the hour mark when Lyon bowled the first maiden of the day, by which time both Bedingham and Robinson had reached their fifties.
Almost the only scare the Durham batters suffered in the first two hours came when Bedingham was dropped on 54, Luke Wells just failing to cling on to a sharp one-handed chance to his right off Lyon.
Robinson eventually reached his first century of the season off 132 balls, having scored 90 runs in the morning, with a sweep off Lyon in the over before lunch. At the interval, Durham were 284 for three; Bedingham and Robinson had scored 150 runs off 30 overs in the session.
After lunch, Keaton Jennings entrusted his attack to the spinners and the flow of runs slowed a little. But Bedingham copied Jennings by making his second century of the match when he cover-drove Wells for four and it was only the tenth time in the history of the County Championship that two players have achieved the feat in the same match.
Having reached that landmark, Bedingham pushed forward to his next delivery and was caught by Matty Hurst off Lyon for 103, thus ending his 216-run fourth-wicket stand with Robinson.
That breakthrough for Lancashire brought Stokes to the wicket with his side still needing 162 to win but having taken 22 balls to get off the mark with a reverse-swept four off Lyon, the England captain then took a four and a six off successive balls from Wells' next over. However, the leg-spinner had his revenge shortly afterwards when Stokes was bowled for 18 when attempting a reverse-sweep to a full-length delivery.
Lancashire took the new ball with the score on 362 for five only for Graham Clark's pulled six off Aspinwall to take Durham to within a hundred of their target. That, though, was followed by what seemed a pivotal over as Balderson had Clark caught behind for 18 and Paul Coughlin taken at slip by Jennings for a second-ball nought.
Next over, Balderson sprinted forwards to take a return catch off bat and pad to get rid of Ben Raine for three. A gigantic mix-up between new batter Matthew Potts and Robinson saw Potts run out for two thanks to substitute fielder George Lavelle's accurate throw to the bowler's end.
Robinson then took the attack to Lancashire's bowler but his 26-run last-wicket partnership with Callum Parkinson ended when Parkinson was caught at slip by Jennings, Lancashire's twin-centurion, off Balderson.
It is Lancashire's first victory of the season in the County Championship but it can take them no higher than ninth in the First Division. The only downside for the Red Rose was that Mahmood bowled only two overs on the last day and seemed to be suffering from an unspecified injury.
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WASHINGTON -- — Luis García Jr. homered and drove in three runs, Eddie Rosario also had three RBI and the Washington Nationals snapped a five-game slide with a 12-3 victory over the struggling Minnesota Twins on Monday night.
Jesse Winker hit a solo shot and Jacob Young delivered a two-run single during a four-run fifth inning off Twins starter Pablo López (4-4) to help Washington pound out 14 hits and hand Minnesota its seventh straight defeat.
"We stayed in the middle of the field," said Nats manager Dave Martinez. "The big thing today, we hit some home runs, but for the most part, you look at all our hits, they were in the middle of the field, which we talk about all the time.
The frustrated Twins held a players only meeting afterward, focused in part on correcting an offense that has scored only 12 runs in this slide.
“It’s easy to be a fun guy to be around when things are going good and when everything you’re hitting is falling and you’re just winning games," said Carlos Correa, who hit a two-run homer for Minnesota. "But when the tough times come, that’s when you know who people are. And it's helpful to talk."
Mitchell Parker (3-2) allowed three runs in six innings in the series opener, his longest outing since the rookie threw seven in a 2-0 win over Houston on April 21.
Correa connected in the sixth, but Parker escaped further trouble when he struck out Kyle Farmer to strand two and end his outing.
“We thought about taking him out, but I wanted to see what he could do,” Martinez said. “We had a big enough lead, I wanted to see him get through it. And he did. He got a big out for us.”
López allowed a season-worst seven runs on eight hits and a walk through five innings. The Nats added three more in the sixth, the last two scoring on catcher Christian Vázquez's errant throw as Rosario stole second, and two in the eighth on Rosario's single.
The Twins helped Parker escaped the second with only one run allowed when Nats shortstop CJ Abrams threw out Byron Buxton at home on a relay after Willi Castro doubled to left. Farmer singled to plate Castro before Parker retired 10 of the next 11 batters.
TRAINERS ROOM
Twins: DH/OF Trevor Larnach (turf toe) could return to his corner outfield role soon, said manager Rocco Baldelli, but it probably won't be an everyday occurrence at first. Larnach has served as DH in all but one of his games since April 23.
Nationals: RHP Cade Cavalli (Tommy John surgery) threw 44 pitches over 2 2/3 innings in his first rehab outing with the rookie-level Florida Complex League Nationals earlier Monday. He struck out five and walked one. ... OF Lane Thomas (left knee sprain) will begin a rehab assignment at Double-A Harrisburg on Tuesday and take three or four at-bats, Martinez said.
UP NEXT
Nationals LHP Patrick Corbin (1-4, 5.59 ERA) looks to build on a pair of promising starts while Twins RHP Joe Ryan (2-3, 3.57) tries to rebound from allowing four earned runs for the first time this season.
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