9:50AM, Tue Aug 28, 2012

Durham Beat Worcestershire In County Championship

Dale Benkenstein and Paul Collingwood steered Durham to their fourth successive County Championship victory with a six-wicket win over struggling Worcestershire.

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Coming together on 35-4, the experienced pair shared an unbroken stand of 119 with Benkenstein finishing unbeaten on 62 and Collingwood (53no) also posting an undefeated half century.

Alan Richardson (3-25) had given Worcester cause for hope with the three wickets in the morning session after Durham had resumed on 3-1.

Keaton Jennings (3) was bowled, Ben Stokes (8) fell LBW for eight and Mark Stoneman suffered the same fate after hitting a breezy 22 shortly after.

But there was to be no further dramas as Benkenstein completed his second half-century of the season with eight fours before hitting the winning boundary.

Worcestershire picked up three bowling points and are level at the bottom with Lancashire.

Day Two

Durham need a further 148 with nine wickets in hand against Worcestershire to record their fourth successive Championship victory.

After the fall of 19 wickets on the first day, only three went down in Wednesday's first two sessions before Worcestershire collapsed again.

Australian left-hander Phil Hughes showed his Test class with a brilliant century in an opening stand of 148 with skipper Daryl Mitchell, but the visitors were all out for 264.

They lost eight wickets after tea, six of them to reckless strokes as Callum Thorp picked up five and Scott Borthwick three.

Hughes needed only 53 deliveries to complete the second 50 in his 143-ball century, racing into the 90s with three fours in an over off Thorp, who had previously bowled ten overs for 17 runs.

On 104 Hughes flashed outside off stump and edged to Phil Mustard, and in Stokes' next over Mitchell steered a catch to gully to depart for 45.

Durham had four overs to face and scored three runs before Will Smith tried to withdraw his bat from the first ball of the last over and played on against Chris Russell.

Day One

A total of 19 wickets went down on the opening day of Worcestershire's County Championship trip to Durham.

The bottom-of-the-table Pears were bundled out for 120 in 34.1 overs after being asked to bat at Chester-le-Street, Chris Rushworth claiming career-best figures of 5-44.

Rushworth was well supported by his fellow seamers Graham Onions (3-27), Callum Thorp (1-21) and Ben Stokes (1-26), while Matt Pardoe's 36 at number three was the top score.

Durham, who have won their last three games to move away from the Division One relegation zone, fared slightly better in reply, reaching 215-9 - a lead of 95 - by the close.

Stokes hit 12 boundaries in his 90-ball 78, the only batsman on either side to post a half-century.

Worcestershire's seamers also tasted regular success, Gareth Andrew bagging 5-74 to go with two wickets apiece for Alan Richardson (2-56) and Chris Russell (2-54).