Durham secured their fourth consecutive LV= County Championship win after Dale Benkenstein and Paul Collingwood steered the team to a six wicket victory at Emirates Durham ICG
Durham were 10-2 when Keaton Jennings became Richardson’s first victim when he was bowled for 3. Ben Stokes (8*) and Mark Stoneman (22*) both fell lbw to Richardson in consecutive overs, bringing Benkenstein and Collingwood to the crease.
At lunch the home side required just 30 runs to secure the win, which they achieved without losing any further wickets and with both batsmen passing the fifty mark.
At the close of play captain Paul Collingwood said, “I’m delighted with the result today and I am very proud of the way we have played in the last five games. First class cricket is hard but what has shone through in the last few games is that the guys have shown a lot of character when it has got tough and have managed to find ways to win, whether that is through someone’s spell or a good innings.
“We’ve certainly been doing the basic things better than we have and the guys are gaining in confidence all the time and understanding their roles, which is quite crucial. We’ve got some good momentum now, the more wins you get, the more confident you become. We have to keep moving forward, improving and keep our standards high. The next target is to break the record of consecutive Championship wins – we’ve equalled that this week. ”