ENGLAND'S forgotten batsman Usman Afzaal emerged from the doldrums with his first championship century of the season against Durham at the Riverside yesterday.

It was a classy knock from the 25-year-old left-hander, full of effortless strokes, as Nottinghamshire capitalised on winning the toss by condemning Durham to a day of hard toil.

On another excellent batting pitch, Durham had cause for satisfaction when Ufzaal was run out for 103 in the second over after tea to make the score 261 for six. But then came a reminder that other teams have more batting depth as another forgotten England man, wicketkeeper Chris Read, and Paul Franks put on 74 in 20 overs.

Durham were flagging at that point, but they stuck at it and fortunes turned again as the last four wickets went down for 27 runs, with Franks last out for 60 just before the close with the Nottinghamshire total on 362.

Afzaal played in three Tests last summer, with a top score of 54 against Australia at The Oval. But the easy grace of his batting can make him look a little too casual for some tastes and a couple of careless wafts outside off stump could have brought his downfall yesterday.

Otherwise he looked a class act, and it was a shame that he did not acknowledge the crowd's appreciation of his hundred.

His first reaction was to remove his helmet and look to the heavens, then he followed the modern habit of pointing his bat towards his teammates. If he extended his horizons he would know that Gary Pratt is now one of the sharpest fielders on the county circuit.

But Afzaal became Pratt's latest victim when he called for a third run and was run out at the non-striker's end after the fielder had sprinted from cover point to wide third man and fired in a pinpoint throw.

The other highlight for Durham came when new overseas man Brad Hodge expertly snaffled the only chance to come his way at second slip. Dropped slip catches have been even more frequent than broken fingers for Durham this season, and Danny Law had already missed a sharp chance above his head in the fifth over.

Guy Welton was on two and went on to contribute 27 to an opening stand of 70 with skipper Jason Gallian before edging Mark Davies to Andrew Pratt. In the next over Paul Johnson played back and edged Law low to Hodge's right, where the Australian took the catch like a man only too happy to revive a dying art.

There was again cause for optimism when Nicky Phillips turned his second ball through Gallian's defensive push to bowl him for 75.

In his second over he had a confident appeal for a catch at the wicket turned down with Afzaal on 46. But the only other wicket for the off spinner was handed to him by left-handed South African Nicky Boje, who had made a hash of one attempted sweep when he tried it again and was lbw.

In between there was a post-lunch run spree in which 94 runs were added in 17 overs, sparked by Afzaal settling in very comfortably against the bowling of Neil Killeen and Paul Collingwood.

Read more about Durham here.