Graeme Onions has put the England selectors on notice by taking nine wickets for Durham against Nottinghamshire on his return to county cricket.
The seamer, along with Tim Bresnan, was left out of the England XI for their crucial third Test against South Africa today, with spinner Graeme Swann and Steven Finn preferred by Andrew Strauss, who was making his 100th Test appearance.
Surplus to requirements at Lord's, Onions travelled North to Trent Bridge for Durham's first-class fixture, where he took the opening eight Nottinghamshire wickets.
He was only denied an historic 10-wicket haul by his own run out of Luke Fletcher, which came three balls before Onions ended the Notts innings by bowling Andy Carter.
In total he recorded figures of 9-67 as Notts were dismissed for 154, lowly compared to Yorkshire's 420 in their four-day match against Derbyshire.
However, Bresnan was not able to contribute to that large score as he fell for just one. The Yorkshire all-rounder is also wicketless so far today.
England have enjoyed the better of the action at Lord's thus far, with South Africa reaching tea at 151-5.
Joe Fish
