AFTER all the ebbs and flows of a gripping game at Trent Bridge, Chris Read took advantage of a huge slice of good fortune to turn the tide decisively against Durham yesterday.

The wicketkeeper who couldn't make enough runs for England scored his third first-class century after being caught behind off a Paul Collingwood no-ball on seven.

Collingwood was amazed by umpire Allan Jones' call as it was the only no-ball he bowled in the match.

It was still in the balance when Nottinghamshire, needing 291 to win, were 221 for seven, but Durham again suffered from the depletion of their bowling resources.

Jon Lewis gambled on a lengthy spell of off spin from Gareth Breese, but he never troubled Greg Smith as he shared an unbroken stand of 73 with Read to earn the three-wicket win.

Coach Martyn Moxon said it was no consolation to know they had played their part in an excellent game.

"The boys put in a lot of hard work and for 75 or 80 per cent of the match they played very good cricket and came away with very little," he said. "It's a bit hard to take.

"Our lack of bowling showed in both innings because we couldn't quite finish them off. We had them on the ropes in the first innings, when Neil Killeen produced his best bowling in a four-day match for some time and had no luck.

"We were excellent all round until they were eight down, but then Hussey farmed the strike well and got some momentum going.

"When a good player is going like that and the bowlers are tired it's hard to stop.

"Mark Davies has a few aches and pains and the rest we have coming up is much-needed for some of them."

It was Durham's fourth defeat in seven championship games and they will be grateful for a rest from four-day cricket before playing Yorkshire at home on June 8.

They have two one-day games before then and Shoaib Akhtar is expected to play in the totesport League match against Derbyshire at Riverside on Monday, when Collingwood is also expected to be available whether or not he is named in the squad for the second Test tomorrow.

Davies captured the crucial wickets of Kevin Pietersen and David Hussey yesterday to take his season's tally to 36, but the workload caught up with him in the end.

In his 42nd and final over of the match Read drove him through the covers for four, then edged a four just wide of Breese at gully before lofting a straight drive down the ground to reach 98.

Once he had completed his 124-ball century by turning Breese behind square for one victory was in sight and Smith smashed two fours in the same over.

He finished on 28 not out after sweeping Breese for the winning four and the off-spinner was left with figures of two for 51.

When he was first introduced at 178 for five after 44 overs Read hoisted his second ball high over long-on for six then swept him to mid-wicket for four.

But at one point Breese had two for 17 as Paul Franks chased a wide one and was caught behind then Richard Logan nibbled at a ball on leg stump and gave Andrew Pratt a leg-side catch.

Those successes encouraged Lewis to keep Breese on, but his options were very limited and he seemed reluctant to gamble on Pallav Kumar, who was given only two overs on the day, which cost eight runs.

It was Read's first championship century for two years. He lost his Test place because he scores runs for England only in one-day games, and he was able to adopt one-day mode here.

It wasn't lack of time which was against him so much as lack of partners once Hussey had departed for 35.

The Australian hit eight boundaries and looked like following up his 166 not out in the first innings with a match-winning knock.

But in going for a third four in one over off Davies he drove straight to Jon Lewis at cover and the celebrations suggested Durham thought victory was in the bag.

When Nottinghamshire resumed on 86 for two Jason Gallian fell to the first ball of the third over when he sliced a drive off Killeen and Gary Pratt took a good low catch at backward point.

Kevin Pietersen added only five to his overnight 14 before he followed a shortish ball from Davies and edged to the safe hands of Marcus North at first slip.

It would have been 132 for five had Read gone on seven, but it didn't seem likely to be too costly when Hussey departed 20 runs later.

Franks and Logan hung around long enough, however, to keep the game in the balance and when Smith dug in the final shift of a see-sawing contest went decisively against Durham.

Read more about Durham County Cricket Club here.