Durham's bonus points could help secure safety

CENTURIES frorn Emilo Gay and Will Rhodes helped Durham pick up five crucial batting bonus points as they drew their Rothesay County Championship meeting with already relegated Worcestershire.

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In the morning, the Pears picked up a couple of Durham scalps to halt their quest for batting bonus points, but Gay and David Bedingham (58) combined for a partnership worth 122 to help Durham's cause.

Gay then reached three figures, while Rhodes scored his maiden First Class hundred for Durham to get them to 450 for six, securing the maximum number of batting points available ahead of a potential relegation decider against Yorkshire next week.

Hampshire's high-scoring draw with Somerset keeps Durham second bottom on 140 points, but with four teams within 10 points of them - leaving a final round showdown with the last relegation place to be decided.

Gay said: “It's a funny old game isn't it, day four to be batting in my first innings isn't something | was really expecting but you've got to be ready for when the time comes.

“It was nice to hear they were going to declare this morning, we honestly thought they were going to go back out there. I'm really happy with today, today was about getting max batting points, batting positively and we did that and we can't complain.