Durham have registered another comprehensive victory, this time defeating Sussex by 285 runs to top the Division 1 LV=County Championships with three matches remaining.
It was a remarkable effort winning in just over two and a half days and again another superb team performance despite a few injuries coming from the last match at Scarborough.
The returning Mitch Claydon and young star Usman Arshad took 6 match wickets each whilst Graham Onions marked his return from injury with 7 match wickets and fellow paceman Chris Rushworth was also superb with the ball with his figures not doing his spells justice.
With the bat it was Mark Stoneman in the first innings (96) and experienced duo Paul Collingwood (45) and Phil Mustard (73) who put together a solid second innings partnership to put the scoreboard pressure on the visitors.
Going into Day 3 Durham held a lead of 345 and their intent to increase the lead quickly made clear early with the not out batsmen Phil Mustard and Usman Arshad looking in short format mode from the get go.
The pair hit five boundaries in the first few overs of the day and appeared to be looking to increase the Durham lead quickly.
This intent led to their downfalls however with Mustard firstly dismissed, hitting straight to Gatting at mid-on to depart for 73 followed by Arshad an over later who skied one to Beer for 34 with Anyon taking both wickets to have Durham 251-8.
It was then left to tail-enders Mitch Claydon (12no) and Chris Rushworth (8no) to get the Durham lead out to 400 and the pair didn’t disappoint with 3 boundaries between them to give Durham a 401 run lead, Collingwood waving for the declaration with Durham 268-8.
With Sussex challenged to chase down the highest total this season against Durham at Emirates Durham ICG, the visitors got off to a shaky start.
Graham Onions struck third ball to give Durham the perfect start as Wells edged to Borthwick at second slip and Sussex 4-1.
Durham then had to wait 13 overs to get their second scalp with Mitch Claydon claiming the wicket of Yardy just before the lunch break trapping him lbw for 25, Sussex 60-2 at lunch.
After the lunch break it was all Durham and the home-side took it up a gear with Claydon taking his second, Nash gone lbw for 38 and then his third as Hamilton Brown edged to Mustard for 1 and all of a sudden Sussex were 73-4.
Usman Arshad then came into the attack and the 20-year old showed why he is rated so highly with three wickets in quick succession.
He firstly dismissed Gatting who also found Phil Mustard’s gloves after making 5 and he then claimed two wickets in two balls to suddenly have Sussex 7 wickets down.
Arshad trapped both Finch (3) and Beer (0) lbw to get on a hat-trick as the Durham players could taste victory in the afternoon session.
Graham Onions then came back into the attack and took the wicket of the resilient Magoffin for 20 as Keaton Jennings took a superb catch on his second attempt.
Three overs later Chris Rushworth took his first wicket, trapping Brown lbw for 6 and Durham were just one wicket away in the second session of Day three.
Despite just the one wicket for the match, Rushworth bowled superbly and was very unlucky to not have a bagful. Some of his spells set the tone for his fellow attack to do the damage on the scoreboard.
With just the one wicket required it was left to the returning Graham Onions to finish the game off as Hatchett edged to Scott Borthwick at second slip, Sussex all out for 116.
It was an amazing effort by the Durham side which continues to thrive as the season gets closer to its conclusion.
The win now has Durham sitting on top of the LV=County Championships Division 1 Table, 14.5 points ahead of Yorkshire.
Durham’s next opponent is Derbyshire who they will face next week at Derby with their two final games against Nottinghamshire (home) and Sussex again, this time on their turf at Hove.