Horrid Weather At Riverside
Swann - hoping to sign off.
LV County Championship heavyweights Nottinghamshire and Durham were this morning contemplating the probability of a rain-ruined stalemate at the Riverside.
Two successive washouts have blighted a match billed initially, and perhaps prematurely, by many as a title-decider.
The remaining prospects, with a weather forecast still far from sunny, are the possibility of a one-innings match should there be no play before tea today - or a bonus-point share-out.
This was to be Nottinghamshire off-spinner Graeme Swann's big opportunity to sign off for the season - before his England duties take over - with a contribution which might help his team win the championship.
Instead, he was yesterday resigned to the fact that neither he nor anyone else might be able to do anything to alter the one-point gap which existed between the top two teams before anyone arrived in Chester-le-Street this week.
All is not lost - or rather, drawn - yet, though.
One man who has retained at least some optimism is Durham captain Dale Benkenstein, who told Swann during the rains of day one that a positive result is always possible here.
"The one thing I did just mention to Graeme Swann is that if it does rain all day today and maybe a bit tomorrow when the covers come off it might seam a little bit," Benkenstein said.
Anxious to denounce any mutterings about a venue which controversially served up 40 wickets in little more than two days as Durham beat Kent last week, the home captain pointed out rainy weather can have a significant effect on the surface once it comes out from under cover.
"I just thought I should warn him [Swann] it's not been a doctored pitch, but it may just seam around," Benkenstein added.
Durham were in danger at one point of losing the points they won against Kent - when a panel was convened to discuss whether an unacceptably poor pitch had been prepared.
In the end, the victory was deemed above board - but Benkenstein knows from more than that experience that matches can move on quickly in this part of the world.
"Games have been finished in nearly two days here, when the weather is like this - it can be difficult to bat on," he warned.
"We have two good sides and two good bowling attacks, so we have to be ready to play some cricket.
"Don't think, just because we lose a day or so, that the game is definitely going to be a draw."