RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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Rothesay County Championship, Division Two, The OurCoop County Ground, Derby (day two)
Durham 283: Clark 64, Lees 63, Stokes 53; Aitchison 5-70
Derbyshire 127-6: Jewell 28, Montgomery 28; Stokes 2-14
Derbyshire (3pts) trail Durham (3pts) by 156 runs with four first innings wickets remaining
The Ben Stokes show rolled into Derby on a pulsating second day of the County Championship match between Derbyshire and Durham at the OurCoop County Ground.
The former England captain delivered another top all-round performance, scoring 53 with 11 fours and then taking a wicket with his first ball.
He had figures of 2-14 but then pulled up at the start of his fifth over and had to leave the field although he was back on before the close.
Ben Aitchison starred for the hosts, taking 5-70 to bowl the Division Two leaders out for 283 which included half-centuries from Alex Lees and Graham Clark.
That looked an even better score when Derbyshire collapsed to 127-6, 156 behind, with Matthew Potts and Will Rhodes both taking two wickets.
The prospect of seeing Stokes bat put a few on the gate and it was not long before he was striding to the middle.
Aitchison was getting the ball to nip around and he moved one in to trap David Bedingham lbw in the third over of a sunny morning.
Stokes edged his second ball just short of the slips but a lofted drive off Brett Randell suggested he was in the mood to repeat his hundred on this ground in the One-Day Cup last month.
Aitchison had Lees dropped on 58 by Brooke Guest diving across first slip, and he beat Stokes, who responded by glancing the next ball to the fine leg boundary.
Stokes moved into Bazball mode when he dropped to one knee to drive Nick Potts gloriously through the covers before a dismissive pull brought him another boundary.
It was, however, far from a smooth ride, with a clip off Anuj Dal just evading mid-wicket before an edge through the slips took him to a 56-ball fifty, before Dal pouched a leading edge in his follow-through to reduce Durham to 182-5.
Clark mirrored Stokes, hitting two sixes in a 57-ball half-century and with Ollie Robinson, took Durham to 260 before the second new ball gave the game another twist.
Aitchison got the rewards he deserved when he had Clark caught at second slip to end a stand of 78 from 129 balls and then beat Robinson's drive.
Both Brydon Carse and Potts went cheaply, the latter bowled by a beauty from Aitchison who became the first Derbyshire bowler for 61 years to take five wickets in an innings in four consecutive first-class matches.
Durham had lost their last five wickets for 23 and Derbyshire's openers soon discovered there was plenty there for the pace bowlers.
Harry Came and Caleb Jewell were beaten numerous times by Potts and Carse but clung on until Stokes inevitably broke through.
His first ball drew Came into a defensive push which flew to third slip and in his fourth over he swung one in to beat Jewell's drive as he went for 28.
There was concern when Stokes went off feeling his lower left side but was back on after Rhodes removed Wayne Madsen.
Rhodes then tempted Matthew Montgomery (28) into a drive before Potts struck twice late on, removing Martin Andersson for 21 and Guest for one as Durham again demonstrated their promotion ambitions.
Report by ECB Reporters' Network, supported by Rothesay.
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