The understated clench of a gloved fist and casual wave of the bat when reaching three figures did not hint at the significance of the moment, nor the repeat after flicking the runs to seal Durham's victory. But Emilio Gay's 159 not out may be the most consequential performance of this weekend in the County Championship.

It sealed a brilliant win against his side's Division Two title rivals Lancashire - it completed the third highest run-chase in Durham's first-class history - but also meant, for the second time this season, Gay ensured his name is the one being spoken about.

If the subplot to these early season rounds is the contest to unseat Zak Crawley, 28, as England's Test opener, after captain Ben Stokes encouraged county players to demand selection with their form, then Gay, 26, has staked his claim. His century was his second in three matches this season. He could not have done much more to this point to answer Stokes' call.

Gay may have been batting at number three against Lancashire, as he has done almost exclusively since moving from Northamptonshire before the start of last season, but he remains an opener by trade. His place as Durham's number three is a happy compromise, given the county has captain Alex Lees, a former England opener, and the highly-rated Ben McKinney in its ranks.

He opened for his school, in club cricket, for Northants and, significantly, for England Lions in Australia last winter where he had moderate success before a hamstring injury curtailed his tour. As the Lions shadowed the first XI's Ashes shellacking, Gay returned scores of 56 not out against the Prime Ministers' XI and 78 against a Cricket Australia XI in Perth.

Lions head coach Andrew Flintoff is known to be a big fan. "I know there's going to be a lot of talk about him," said Durham's coach Ryan Campbell after the Lancashire win. "All we're talking about is him playing for Durham. He was disappointed with his shot in the first innings when he'd done the hard work and he could've cashed in. This time he did."

The first-innings dismissal Campbell mentions was a loose drive to Lancashire seamer Tom Bailey which resulted in an edge being caught at slip. Some would say it was Crawley-esque. But Gay, who has played for Italy in three T20s having qualified through his maternal grandfather and is also eligible for West Indies via his paternal grandparents, appears to have the all-round game to suit England in their rebirth under Stokes and coach Brendon McCullum.

His team-mate McKinney, another tipped for Crawley's spot after his 244 against Gloucestershire last week, may have more eye-catching attacking power but Gay has the more balanced set-up. He mixes classical strokes with a hint of flair and a solid-looking defence.

Gay's two centuries this year, the first of which came on the season's opening day, follow four in Division One in Durham's relegation season last year. One of those in 2025 came against champions Nottinghamshire and another against Surrey, who finished second.

"Is he good enough? Quite possibly," said BBC Newcastle commentator Martin Emmerson, who has watched Gay throughout his Durham career. "Consistency is key, though. While he scored nearly 1,000 runs in Division One last season, there were also five ducks early in the year."

Gay will have three more Championship matches to further press his case before England's hierarchy convenes to pick their squad for the first Test of the summer against New Zealand on 4 June. For the last two of those matches, against Worcestershire and the return at Kent, he will have Stokes in the dressing room, assuming the all-rounder's recovery from cheek surgery continues as planned.

There are also two four-day Lions fixtures against South Africa A scheduled for late May, with England's players coming together for a camp in the week in between. Selections there may reveal plenty. The first Lions match may be when England get their wish in seeing 22-year-old left-hander James Rew face the new ball. He is another of the outstanding candidates despite his 379 runs at an average of 75.80 coming in Somerset's middle order.

It is not inconceivable Rew, Gay and McKinney all line up against the Proteas second string. Over the weekend Haseeb Hameed and Dom Sibley, two openers from England's past eyeing a recall, also made centuries which muddied the selection waters further.

It does not help that the position of England's national selector remains vacant - that recruitment process has reached its second stage - but finding context in early-season county batting performance remains difficult, given the lack of similarity between it and the pace and bounce found at Test level. That is only multiplied when runs flow as they did across this weekend, when all four Division One matches ended in high-scoring draws.

For all of the talk of adapting, England remain keen on batters able to put the best bowlers under pressure and who can deliver on the biggest stage. What will catch their eye more? Sibley's 101 from 283 balls in Surrey's stalemate against Essex or Gay, who thwarted James Anderson and the highly-rated seamer Mitch Stanley to drag Durham from staring at a heavy defeat to victory?

Conversely, Gay's runs have come in the second division and Lancashire's attack was tired after four games in four weeks, and Bailey ended the match bowling loopy spin after Lancashire's request for an injury substitute was rejected. Context is hard to find but Gay could have done little more.

By CricViz analyst Kieran Parmley, Emilio Gay has slowly pushed himself into England's consideration over the last few years thanks to his stellar performances at domestic level. In first-class cricket since the start of 2024, the top-order southpaw is averaging 50.35 across 32 matches, recording eight centuries and eight half-centuries in this timeframe.

Gay notched his unbeaten 159 against Lancashire from the number three spot, however his record when opening the batting will interest England just as much. The Durham man is averaging 53.21 across 31 innings as a first-class opener since 2024; by comparison, Gay is averaging 44.09 from 22 innings in the number three spot.

As a left-handed opener, right-arm pacers bowling from round the wicket pose an immediate threat to Gay with the new ball. While Gay generally has a good record against right-arm pace new-ball bowling, his average drops slightly to 29.50 when facing right-arm pacers from round the wicket inside the first 10 overs.

Stylistically, Gay differs slightly from England's current opening pair when facing the new ball and could signify a shift in mentality at the top of the order. Gay attacks just 22% of deliveries in overs 1-10, while Duckett attacks 42% and Crawley 34%. Gay tends to defend or leave the ball early on, defending or leaving just under 60% of deliveries against the new ball. Gay has a dismissal rate of 70 when defending or leaving against the new ball - a significantly better record than current opener Zak Crawley, who is dismissed every 38 deliveries when playing defensively or leaving early on.

Gay is strong playing through the off side against pace, particularly behind square, scoring 29% of his runs against pace behind square on the off side. As a result, Gay is perhaps slightly weaker down the ground compared to England's current openers, scoring only 15% of his runs down the ground - current opener Crawley scores 23% of his runs down the ground against pace by comparison.

One small area of concern for England could be Gay's record against international bowlers during his performances at county level. While Gay's recent century came against James Anderson's Lancashire, he has previously come unstuck against Test-level bowlers. Since the start of 2024, he is averaging just 21.37 when facing bowlers with a Test cap. Perhaps more relevant to this summer, Gay was dismissed by New Zealand's Matt Henry in both innings during a county game against Somerset last summer.

As expected in first-class cricket, Gay is vulnerable facing good length deliveries, averaging just 22.51 against length balls. He has a strong record facing back of a length and short deliveries and unsurprisingly has good numbers playing the pull shot, albeit off a small sample size - scoring 125 runs off 76 pull shots, with just one dismissal.

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