Worcestershire vs Durham report- Parkinson spins Durham to victory as Stokes returns

Ahead by 40 runs after dismissing the visitors for 268, the Pears looked in good health at 53 without loss, before a seismic collapse saw Worcestershire lose 9/38 as the hosts were bundled out for just 102.   

Only Worcestershire’s top three made double figures, as Parkinson helped himself to an eighth career fifer before Stokes cleaned up the tail to leave their side 143 to win.  

Ben McKinney plundered a brutal 87 from 71 balls as Durham powered their way to an emphatic nine-wicket win.   

Parkinson said: “I think I have bowled pretty nicely all year, probably without getting the rewards that I would have necessarily wanted.

“I just put the ball in the right area and got a bit of a bit of luck and a bit of probably the rewards that I could have garnered in the first innings.

“I thought as a group we were pretty disciplined. We just built pressure and it felt like there was no escape for the Worcestershire batters and in the end it was a pretty comfortable win today.”

England Captain Ben Stokes made just 14 in his first innings back since the Ashes as his Durham side were pegged back by a resilient Worcestershire on day two at New Road.   

Jack Home made a superb maiden first-class fifty from number 10 to drag his side up to 308 all-out, as Ben Raine recorded figures of 5-63.    

Durham’s response stuttered early on, with England hopeful Emilio Gay making 28 before he edged behind as the Pears looked to pounce.    

Home took the prize scalp of Stokes late in the afternoon, but a fine 83 from David Bedingham left the match finely poised as Durham closed on 207/6.  

Bedingham said: “We started well with the ball, but that partnership the two young guys put on was really impressive. 

“I thought par was around 240, but the way that their final pair batted probably altered that and now 300 seems about right, so we are confident of getting there tomorrow. 

“On a wicket that isn’t the easiest at times, you may not time it as well as you want too, but they bowled well, especially Waite and Taylor.

“Hopefully a couple of partnerships can come together and see us up towards their target, at the moment it feels like tomorrow morning is the most important session yet.”

England Captain Ben Stokes took 2/40 in his first appearance of the summer as the all-rounder made an encouraging return from injury as Durham dominated the first day of Rothesay County Championship action against Worcestershire.   

Opening the bowling, Stokes dismissed Dan Lategan in just the second over of his comeback, before another impressive Ben Raine spell saw Durham on top at lunch with the Pears 93-4.   

Adam Hose produced a defiant half-century as he and Brett D’Oliveira (41) came together to add 97 for the fifth wicket and drag the hosts back into the contest at 149-4.  

Stokes returned to bowl Hose with the first ball of an evening session delayed by rain, before Raine collected his third wicket to put the visitors in charge with Worcestershire closing 209-7.    

Raine said: “We could have bowled a bit better than we did, that is just our reflections. When we bowled traditional first-class lengths it wasn’t quite the same, but we are able to bring in some real quality and Stokesy looked like he was in fine fettle. 

“We really appreciate how fortunate we are to have all of our England lads desperate to play for us. We know it isn’t like that at every county, and Ben showed his class today. 

“Although I felt like I was grinding and battling all day, but for the other lads maybe not so much. 

“It is really hard to tell what a par score is. At times it felt like 150 was good, then at others it was like 350 was a good score. Their lads batted well in phases and little partnerships.