England's next opener? Durham's Gay stakes his claim

England's next opener? Durham's Gay stakes his claimImage source, Getty ImagesByMatthew HenryBBC Sport JournalistPublished14 minutes ago4 CommentsThe understated clench of a gloved fist and casual wave of the bat 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 as England's Test opener, after captain Ben Stokes encouraged county players to demand selection with their form, then Gay 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 Camp...