Notts hurdle still to overcome - Cook

Geoff Cook presided over Durham's 2008 title win, but he refuses to believe they have repeated the feat just yet

Durham’s director of cricket Geoff Cook refuses to accept his team have already retained their LV= County Championship Division One title, even though they already have five more points than at the end of last season.

The nine points Durham took from the draw against Somerset - confirmed by a second successive washout today at the Riverside - took their total to 195, with three games left.

The first of those is at home to second-placed Nottinghamshire, starting next Wednesday.

Chris Read’s men were 29 points adrift at the start of their current match against Yorkshire and have played a game more than Durham. They will need to beat both Yorkshire and Durham to keep the race alive.

“We’ve got a very big game coming up against Nottinghamshire,” said Cook, the former England, Northamptonshire and Durham batsman.

“It’s going to be absolutely crucial and it’s really important we are tuned into playing good, positive, aggressive cricket.

“It’s a slight concern that Notts are in a good run of cricket and we haven’t played much recently, especially after losing two days here.

“The weather influenced two of our first three games, when we were in a good position and had to settle for draws.

“Other than that we’ve been reasonably fortunate, although our positive cricket has helped us to win in three days a couple of times when a fourth might not have been available.”

Durham will have Shivnarine Chanderpaul available for the rest of the season following the breakdown of talks in the West Indies to resolve their senior players’ dispute over contracts.

Had it been sorted out, there was a chance Chanderpaul would have had to go to the ICC Champions Trophy in South Africa barely a month after arriving in Durham.

He made 117 not out in a total of 272, which gave Durham a first-innings lead of 98 against Somerset - and Cook said: “It was a world-class innings.

“Because of the pitches Somerset play on, their bowling has to be very disciplined - which it was here. It meant that on this pitch batting was difficult, but Shiv was up to the challenge. It was an outstanding effort.

“He hadn’t played for some time, so he arrived here fresh and is enjoying this opportunity. He lives for batting and he enjoys playing for us. It wasn’t difficult to get him to come back here.”