Warwickshire secured a one-wicket win in a tense finish against Durham, as Ethan Bamber carved a six in the dying moments of the day to seal a famous result.
Having been 90-5 earlier in the day after a devastating burst from Matthew Potts and Ben Raine, the result looked a foregone conclusion, with 249 runs still needed for a Warwickshire win. However, a battling century from Ed Barnard brought stability to the final innings, and strong partnerships with Kai Smith and Michael Booth brought the equation down.
It was never a comfortable chase though, and with 15 runs still required and Booth and Bamber having put on a 29-run partnership, Potts produced a beauty to bowl Booth and bring Durham to within one wicket of victory. With Sri Lanka No.11 Vishwa Fernando having joined Bamber in the middle, Bamber – who has a first-class batting average of 11.33 – took it upon himself to take most of the strike. It paid off when, with one run to win having edged wide of the slips in a streaky final passage of play, Bamber carved a full ball from Raine down the ground to finish the job with a six.
After lean starts to the season, two England incumbents made important second-innings half-centuries in the County Championship this week 👏#CountyCricket2025https://t.co/9bGRGKsiS6
— Wisden (@WisdenCricket) April 14, 2025
Fernando celebrated by swinging his bat in the air and jogging down the wicket to embrace Bamber, who had stood back to admire the shot before tucking his bat under his arm in a low-key celebration.
That finish was a worthy pay-off for a game that had swung back and forth over the previous four days. Durham had overcome a wobble in the middle of their first-innings thanks to a brilliant century from Ben McKinney. He scored 153 to lead Durham to a first innings score of 387. Warwickshire's top-order struggled in response, and were reduced to 157-6 before half-centuries from Smith and Booth took them to within 62 runs of Durham's first innings score.
Durham then had a job to set up a declaration, hampered by Booth rounding out an all-round performance with a four-wicket-haul. They finally got into a position to declare late on day three, setting the wheels in motions for the final evening finish.
The result leaves Durham with two losses from their first two matches of the season, having lost away to Nottinghamshire last week. Warwickshire are yet to lose, having drawn to Sussex at Edgbaston in the opening round.
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