COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIP DIVISION ONE, Trent Bridge:
CLOSE OF PLAY, DAY THREE: Durham 356 Nottinghamshire 171 and 79-9 (Durham 7pts, Notts 3pts)
15 -18 July 2009

Harmison has taken five-wicket hauls in his last four Championship games

Steve Harmison ripped through the Nottinghamshire batting line-up as only rain prevented Durham completing an innings victory on day three.

Harmison took county-best figures of 6-20 at Trent Bridge as the home side, following on, slumped to 79-9 in their second innings, still 106 behind.

Only Bilal Shafayat (12), Samit Patel (14) and Mark Ealham (17 not out) made double figures for the hosts.

Weather permitting, Durham will expect to wrap up the win on Saturday morning.

Nottinghamshire were bowled out for 171 on day two in reply to Durham's 356, to trail by 185.

But their bid to make the visitors bat again never got off the ground as Durham's bowling attack got to work.

606: DEBATE Durham's attack is awesome, certainly the best in this league flandersmackem

Mark Davies did the initial damage, removing both Matthew Wood and Mark Wagh to leave Notts 19-2.

Harmison then ended Shafayat's 53-ball resistance by having him caught behind by Phil Mustard, before Callum Thorp trapped David Hussey leg before.

That left Notts 51-4, still needing another 134 to make the defending champions bat again, only for Harmison to destroy the lower order in a terrific burst before lunch.

Patel, Ally Brown, Chris Read and Andre Adams all fell victim to the England paceman as he collected his fourth five-wicket haul of the season - and fourth in successive Championship games - to send the hosts to lunch on 68-8.

Rain then prevented any further play until just before 1600 BST, but when they got back underway Harmison soon picked up wicket number six, removing international team-mate Ryan Sidebottom for a duck.

But with just one wicket needed, rain intervened again and play was called off for the day at around 1815 BST.

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