Record rain at Durham

Rain prevented any play at the Riverside on day three

Durham’s heavyweight clash with title rivals Nottinghamshire may be set to make unwanted history tomorrow as only the second four-day washout at the Riverside.

Abandonments of championship matches without a ball bowled are a rare beast in the era of covered pitches - and the only previous instances at one of English first-class cricket’s newest venues occurred back in 1997.

After day three was confirmed as another washout by early afternoon, the options open to the top two teams in LV Division One tomorrow are a one-innings match or an attempt to salvage bonus points - should any play eventually be possible.

Prospects were so dismal today that Nottinghamshire’s players were not even tempted to venture south from their Newcastle hotel, and it did not take long for more forecast rain to arrive.

If there is more of the same on the scheduled final day, Durham’s world number one batsman Shivnarine Chanderpaul is likely to have only one more match to do himself justice before his international commitments kick in again.

Chanderpaul has made only 91 runs in five innings so far and must leave at the start of next month to begin West Indies’ preparations for the Champions Trophy.

His frustration is understandable - but the Guyanese left-hander is not one to allow such circumstances to get on top of him.

“There’s not much we can do out there,” he shrugged, adding he and his Durham team-mates nonetheless remain optimistic that a maiden title will be theirs by the end of next month.

Shivnarine Chanderpaul is looking to make amends for Durham after a lean spell in the north east

“We still have a few games left to try to win the competition,” he reasons.

The northerners are likely to stay one point behind table-toppers Nottinghamshire, with one game in hand - and Chanderpaul’s last opportunity to set the record straight should come against Hampshire at the Rose Bowl.

He is confident he knows how to make sure he puts some runs on the board too - simply by being as watchful as he can.

“Compared with the Caribbean, the ball is doing a lot more out here - and it means I just have to adjust my game a bit,” he explained.

Chanderpaul could be forgiven for hoping he does not need to make those adjustments tomorrow.

It seems unlikely either team would be willing to undertake the risk of a one-innings match - without bonus points but with a carrot of a full 14 on offer for victory.

Pursuit of those bonus points will therefore be the order of the day.

With three wickets or more a much more obvious target - in likely bowler-friendly conditions - than 200 runs, whoever wins the toss will have an easy decision to make should the match gets that far.