By Charles Randall at Trent Bridge
First day of four: Durham (67-4) trail Nottinghamshire (211) by 144 runs
THE sight of two men with a stepladder holding up play at least three times because they were trying to paint the front of a sightscreen while the game was in progress emphasised that there was more afoot at Trent Bridge than merely a visit by Durham.
Yesterday marked the topping-out of the £7.2 million Radcliffe Road development, which is nearing completion and includes accommodation as well as two cricket halls.
The ceremony involved Alan Wheelhouse, the Nottinghamshire chairman, handing over a stag-shaped weather vane destined for the central tower.
On the field, Nottinghamshire failed to achieve a total to match this grand occasion as the ball swung around and seamed off a grassy pitch, with Melvyn Betts cashing in with five wickets.
Out of 211, Paul Franks clipped the ball away powerfully for 66, his highest championship score, and the ever-reliable extras weighed in with a valuable 46.
Notts could have ended the day in a worse position after they had been put in to bat amid the sound of pneumatic drilling, without their captain Paul Johnson, who had to rest a shoulder injury.
Durham's seam attack sprayed the ball at all angles, starting with the first delivery of the day, which disappeared for four byes, and Johnson was the type of batsmen who might have punished them.
Stephen Harmison gifted 18 runs out of the 20 Durham conceded in wides, but wickets did come.
John Wood drilled through Tim Robinson's tentative prod in the second over while good slip catches were held by Nick Speak and Paul Collingwood.
No batsmen, including Durham's later, looked comfortable but the left-handed Franks, a successful England Under-19 player last winter, made the most of his scoring opportunities, usually off his hips and pads as he raced past 50 in 47 balls. He had batted for two hours when he fine-edged an attempted hook.
Noel Gie assisted in a lively post-lunch stand until he played on spectacularly from around chest height.
Day 2: Collingwood the reluctant hero
By Charles Randall at Trent Bridge
PAUL Collingwood struck 97 not out to indicate Durham's improving resourcefulness and transform a sticky situation against Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge.
Durham somehow finished up with a useful 58-run first-innings lead, but will have to improve to secure the victory that could take them up to fourth place in the table.
Excellent though Collingwood's effort was, he needed a metaphorical kick up the backside from batting partner Michael Foster, as well as help from Paul Strang, Nottinghamshire's stand-in captain.
Foster's intervention was crucial as he showed that Nottinghamshire's seam attack could best be dealt with aggressively. His 68 in less than two hours demonstrated to Collingwood what could be achieved.
Strang, let down by his seam attack at the death, should carry the blame for Durham's last-wicket stand of 53 between Collingwood and Steve Harmison, which tugged an even contest away from his side.
Strang, deputising for the injured Paul Johnson, delayed introducing his own leg-breaks until the partnership had reached its 10th over. The Zimbabwe Test player struck in his first over with the first ball Harmison faced against him.
Collingwood, having taken four hours to reach fifty, began to show his talent as a stroke player when the admirable Foster had pushed a catch back to Chris Tolley, the pick of the home attack.
Two further wickets fell quickly, including Melvyn Betts first ball, and Collingwood at last began to give the seamers a savaging by smashing two sixes in consecutive deliveries.
Nottinghamshire's second innings faltered at 31 for two at tea as John Wood claimed two quick wickets.
Day 3: Durham finally pass test
By Charles Randall at Trent Bridge
Durham (269 & 167-2) bt Notts (211 & 224) by 8 wkts
DURHAM had been operating among first-class brethren for seven seasons and until Nottinghamshire buckled yesterday they had not won at a Test ground.
This was their first away win for almost three years, since a surprise success at Swansea, and their reward was a leap up the championship table to third, the loftiest place in their brief history.
If Durham succeed at another Test venue next weekend, against a vulnerable Middlesex side at Lord's, they could even muster a challenge for the championship as 500-1 pre-season outsiders.
Nick Speak, no longer the tentative batsman he was last season, produced a fluent 77 not out yesterday when it mattered, and David Boon stuck with him for a fifty despite hardly middling a ball all afternoon.
Nottinghamshire's batting failed twice against persistent swing bowling, the admirable Michael Foster picking up four wickets as a match-winner with bat and ball.
Durham's many failures at Test centres would suggest a feeling of inferiority over the years, and there must be some truth in that, a legacy from the early seasons when Durham's gang of has-beens failed so frequently as a team. Boon's current blend has no such excuses.
Nottinghamshire's six overnight wickets might have subsided earlier if Nicky Phillips had not dropped a second routine gully catch, this time off nightwatchman Mark Bowen the over after Noel Gie had propped up a catch at short-leg.
A disconsolate Phillips resigned from gully but, as so often happens with fielders in this situation, he failed to escape from the ball. At cover he held Chris Tolley's slash, and at third man he judged Paul Strang's swirling top edge to perfection.
Durham's Foster-inspired batting revival on Saturday proved to be the turning point, when 98 for six was remoulded into a first-innings lead of 58. Foster made 68 and Paul Collingwood went on to enhance a burgeoning reputation with his 97 not out, which included four sixes.
Collingwood struck two sixes in succession off Paul Franks's fast-medium pace, following up a crisp drive with a pull out of the ground into Bridgford Road.