Durham have recorded an emphatic innings and 144 run victory over Surrey this afternoon at Emirates Durham ICG which has seen them skyrocket to 2nd place on the LV=County Championships points table.
Speedster Mark Wood was the hero of the day, taking career best 5-44 to tear through the Surrey line-up.
It was the young players who stole the show in this fixture with Wood (23 years of age) joined by Jamie Harrison (22 years of age) who also took a 5 wicket haul in the first innings well as 3 in the second.
20-year old debutant Usman Arshad also showed promise with 4 match wickets whilst 23-year old Scott Borthwick was the star with the bat making 135 and combining with the experienced Will Smith to put on a record 187 run stand in Durham’s innings.
After losing most of the afternoon’s play on Day 3 the equation was simple for Durham, 7 wickets and they had a win as Surrey trailed by 261 runs going into the final day.
After an hour and no breakthrough Mark Wood was brought into the attack and had immediate impact when he struck in his first over of the day to remove de Bruyn for 12 after a nice catch to Michael Richardson.
Amla and Davies then provided some resistance for Surrey and combined for a 68 run stand before Chris Rushworth struck with the big wicket of Amla who has made his way to 89 before edging to Phil Mustard behind the stumps.
Four overs later Mark Wood ensured it would be an early finish when he sparked Durham into action with two wickets in two balls.
He first removed Davies after a superb aerial, one-handed catch to Mustard and then dismissed Batty the next ball with Mustard the man again to take the catch to dismiss the number 5 for a golden duck leaving Surrey 156-7 at lunch.
Surrey survived the Mark Wood hat-trick ball after lunch but the very next delivery Wood claimed his third of the day, Wilson his next victim who like two of his teammates in the second innings, edged behind to Mustard leaving Surrey 8 wickets down.
Jamie Harrison then got in on the action the next over as he took his second wicket of the innings and 7th match wicket with Mustard taking another superb catch, this time to dismiss Tremlett.
It was then Mark Wood who claimed the final wicket, giving him a 5-wicket haul as Linley found Will Smith, Surrey all out for 169, giving Durham a win by an innings and 144 runs.
The win cements Durham in second place on the Championship table trailing only Yorkshire, their next opponent who they will face at Scarborough starting next Wednesday in what is set to be an almost Championship decider match.