County Championship: Durham power to nine-wicket win in three days at Worcs

Resuming on 208-6, the effervescent Tom Taylor opened Worcestershire’s account for the day, when the seamer drew Ollie Robinson into a prod outside off-stump, with Jake Libby taking an excellent catch at gully.

Aside from the early blemish, Graham Clark continued his excellent knock from number six, as the middle-order batter picked off some loose deliveries through the offside as he moved through the seventies.

Kasey Aldridge added a plucky 13, but when Matthew Waite produced a near unplayable ball to the right hander that he could only edge behind to Gareth Rodrerick, the match’s momentum edged back in Worcestershire’s favour, with Durham 254-8.

Ethan Brookes (2-10) needed just two overs to complete what had been a prosperous morning for the home side, as he ended Clark’s impressive innings on 78, before Ben Raine followed soon after for 13 and Durham ended 268 all out.

Having acquired a handy 40-run lead, Libby and Dan Lategan headed to the middle in overcast conditions, with Libby riding his luck in the early forays as Ben Stokes found his edge twice without any avail.

Resuming after the interval on 33-0, the ever-assertive Lategan latched onto two over-pitched Kasey Aldridge deliveries to crunch successive boundaries through mid-off, but Durham’s all-rounder had the last laugh when he castled Libby on 28.

Raine returned less than an over later to stop Lategan (20) in his tracks when David Bedingham took a sharp catch at gully, with Durham sensing an opportunity at 55-2.

The Aldridge-Raine combination struck two overs later when Kashif ballooned a catch to the latter at mid-off for one, handing Aldridge his second wicket as the tide.

Worcestershire lost their fourth and fifth wickets when Callum Parkinson entered the attack and dismissed Adam Hose (three) and Brett D’Oliveira (eight), both caught and bowled, as he triggered the collapse at 72-5.

The middle-order woes worsened for the New Road outfit when Ethan Brookes edged to Aldridge at slip for two and the Division One leaders were only 130 runs behind by the time Parkinson helped himself to a fourth wicket, when Matthew Waite (four) played all-round a straight ball that cannoned into his off-stump as the Pears slumped to 90-7.

England captain Ben Stokes returned to the attack and needed just two balls to make his presence felt when Tom Taylor was pinned lbw for a duck. When Roderick (15) top-edged an attempted slog sweep to hand Parkinson his fifth, only Harry Darley and Jack Home remained.

The first-innings heroes added 11 for the final wicket, before Stokes completed the demolition job when he dismissed Darley (five) as Durham’s blitz had seen Worcestershire bowled out for 102 in just over one session.

The visitors suffered just one setback in their chase of 143, as Tom Taylor trapped Alex Lees with the third ball of the innings for four.

Ben McKinney broke the back of the chase with a dismissive 87 not out, racing to fifty in just 44 balls, showing a ruthless edge as he crashed 13 boundaries.

Gay played a fine supporting role as the visitors completed the nine-wicket win.