Graham Onions (5-23 off 15) and Chris Rushworth (3-31 off 12) again stole the show on the final day at The County Ground in Derby, with the pace duo taking 8 wickets between them setting up a victory in a game which looked destined to be a draw.
Durham resumed at the crease still trailing Derbyshire’s first innings but were closing in on the defecit with Collingwood and Richardson at the crease early on Day four.
The Durham skipper posted 25 before he went caught behind to Palladino in the 100th over and just four overs later Richardson also edged through to the keeper, Palladino getting the first two wickets of the morning.
After five more overs Derby got their third wicket, Usman Arshad run out by Wainwright for 8 and the home side had Durham a little rattled with Onions also run out the following over, this time by Footitt and Durham were 314-8.
Phil Mustard (23no) was running out of partners when Jamie Harrison became Palladino’s 5h victim and Rushworth his 6th as the last man in for Durham found Chanderpaul and Durham were all out for 325 with a lead of 27.
Then came the Graham Onions and Chris Rushworth show with the pair showing why they have become one of the best attacks in the competition, swinging the match in the space of a few hours to tear through the Derby line-up in their second innings.
Rushworth set the tone early and struck on his second ball of his first over, trapping Slater lbw. He then had to wait another eight overs to claim his second, Borrington finding Will Smith leaving Derbyshire 26-2.
Onions then got in on the action and claimed the big wicket of Derbyshire Captain Wayne Madsen. Onions then struck again in the 17th and 19th overs, first bowling Hughes for 4 then trapping Chanderpaul lbw for 10.
The wickets continued to tumble the next over when Rushworth bowled Poynter and Durham could taste victory, Derbyshire 44-6.
Onions then took his 4th and 5th wickets for the day in the one over with Johnson edging to Richardson who took an incredible catch to dismiss him for 5 and Palladino also finding Richardson’s hands leaving Derbyshire 8 wickets down.
Usman Arshad then came into the attack and cleaned up the final two wickets as Groenewals (0) edged to Richardson for his third catch of the innings and Footitt (2) hit to Phil Mustard behind the stumps, Derbyshire all out for 63- one of their lowest total on record.
Durham then needed just 37 runs for a victory and it took them just 7.5 overs to do so.
Despite losing the wicket of Mark Stoneman in the 4th over, the target was easily achieved and Keaton Jennings 18no and Scott Borthwick 10no saw Durham to another incredible victory.
Durham now have two matches remaining in the competition and next face Nottinghamshire at home next week. If they can claim an outright victory against Nottinghamshire the title will be theirs with the win today increasing their lead by 27.5 points. Durham currently hold top spot and are sitting on 221.5 points and their nearest rivals Yorkshire, who played out a rain-affected draw against Sussex at Hove on 194 points.
Scorecard here