Result: Durham (291 & 247/8; Jennings 82, Burnham 52; Smith 5/25) beat Lancashire (204 & 333; Procter 122; Stokes 3/50) by two wickets
Durham moved to second place in the Specsavers County Championship table with a nail-biting victory by two wickets over Lancashire at Southport.
Ben Stokes and Championship debutant Adam Hickey all but saw Durham home with a 48-run stand for the eighth wicket after Tom Smith had decimated the middle-order.
He took 4/12 in eight overs before tea as Durham slipped from 170/2 to 195/7 in pursuit of 247.
Stokes was run out for 36 with four runs needed before Chris Rushworth hit the winning runs off Kyle Jarvis with a cover drive to the boundary.
Durham are now second in Division One, 13 points behind Middlesex with a game in hand having played nine.
Keaton Jennings (82) and Jack Burnham (52) had put Lancashire right on the back foot with a third-wicket stand of 123 either side of lunch.
One of the first two wickets was Mark Stoneman lbw playing across the line against Jarvis in the day’s first over; Smith had the other, Scott Borthwick caught in the gully.
But Jennings and Burnham both fell as three wickets went in 19 balls between the 55th and 58th overs as the Red Rose bounced back.
Jennings, the division’s leading run-scorer with 951, has now reached 50 seven times in 14 innings.
Smith had dropped two slip catches off Simon Kerrigan either side of lunch, but he hit back in style.
Kerrigan broke the Jennings-Burnham partnership by trapping the latter lbw with a quicker ball before Smith had Jennings caught behind off a top-edged pull and Michael Richardson strangled down the leg-side.
Paul Collingwood was Smith’s fourth victim, and third of the afternoon, when he was trapped lbw for four to leave the score at 183/6.
He then had Paul Coughlin brilliantly caught behind one-handed by a diving Tom Moores in his next over to ensure Lancashire ended the afternoon on a high.
Ben Stokes was unbeaten on 15 at tea, with Durham needing 50 with three wickets in hand.
Adam Hickey pulled Jarvis for six into the members’ area to take the target to 18 before Stokes launched Kerrigan over wide long-on twice in the next as the target became four.
The England man was then run out at the non-striker’s end after clipping a ball just wide of short-leg, although it did not cost the visitors.
Close, Day Three: Durham (291; Borthwick 64) trail Lancashire (204 & 333; Procter 122; Stokes 3/50) by 246 runs – Durham require 247 to win on Day Four
Durham require 247 to win on what promises to be an enthralling final day of their Specsavers County Championship match with Lancashire at Southport.
Ben Stokes and Scott Borthwick took three wickets apiece but Luke Procter posted a patient six-hour 122 to help the hosts set a challenging target.
He underpinned Lancashire’s second-innings score of 333 all out on a pitch offering assistance for both seam and spin bowlers.
There was also success for Adam Hickey, who took two first-class scalps on Championship debut in figures of 2/37 from 20 overs.
The hosts started day three on 59/1, 28 runs in arrears, and Procter and second-wicket partner Haseeb Hameed wiped off the deficit.
They completed a partnership of 114 in 37 overs, with Hameed reaching 53 by the time he gloved an accurate short ball from Stokes to third slip.
Hameed was the first of two wickets to fall before lunch, with Alviro Petersen trapped lbw playing back to Borthwick in the final over of the session – 160/3 in the 54th.
Lancashire were five down by the time Procter reached his century off 235 balls.
Both wickets went to off-spinner Hickey, who had Steven Croft caught at deep mid-on and Karl Brown caught at short-leg.
On-loan Notts wicketkeeper Tom Moores settled quickly at the crease on his first-class debut, and he lofted Borthwick for a straight six before tea.
Procter and Moores shared 70 in 26 overs either side of tea before both fell in successive Borthwick overs as Lancashire fell to 283/7.
Procter inside-edged the leg-spinner to Jack Burnham at leg slip before Moores was run out from cover by Paul Coughlin after Kyle Jarvis called for a quick single.
Jarvis was then bowled by a Borthwick googly in the next over before Simon Kerrigan and Nathan Buck, who has come into the fixture for Jimmy Anderson, took the Lancashire lead above 200.
Kerrigan edged Stokes behind for 19 before Buck added three boundaries in a Borthwick over as the lead approached 250 with 10 minutes of play remaining.
But Durham ensured they would open tomorrow with the bat as Parkinson looped a catch up to short-leg off Stokes to wrap up the innings, with Buck finishing on 27 not out.
Close, Day Two: Lancashire (204 & 59/1) trail Durham (291; Borthwick 64) by 28 runs
Durham gained a first-innings lead of 87 and then struck once with the ball heading into the second half of their Specsavers County Championship match against Lancashire at Southport.
Scott Borthwick and Paul Collingwood registered half centuries before a last wicket stand of 41 lofted Durham up to 291.
Collingwood battled through a webbing injury on his left hand for a typically obdurate 50 as the visitors recovered from 169/6 at lunch.
They were later bowled out on the stroke of tea before the Red Rose county reached close in decent order at 59/1 from 24 overs, a deficit of 28.
James Anderson struck twice in 16 overs, getting Adam Hickey and Collingwood, who had earlier pulled him onto the nearby railway line, caught behind deep into the afternoon by debutant Tom Moores.
Anderson finished with figures of 3/58 from 22 overs and will be replaced by Nathan Buck from day three onwards.
The day started with Durham at 88 for three but lost three wickets in nine overs after a good partnership between Borthwick and Ben Stokes kept Lancashire at bay for most of the morning session; they and Michael Richardson were the men to fall.
Stokes, shuffling down the pitch, fell to Matty Parkinson’s first ball of the innings and Borthwick was bowled through the gate by Simon Kerrigan.
And, in the last over of the session, Richardson was caught at slip off Kyle Jarvis.
Collingwood then shared an important 71 inside 31 overs with Paul Coughlin (26) through the majority of the afternoon before the latter was bowled by Kyle Jarvis as the score fell to 240/7 in the 86th over.
It was the first of three wickets to fall inside four overs as Anderson got Hickey and Collingwood caught behind.
Chris Rushworth and Graham Onions then added what could be a crucial 41 for the tenth wicket before the former swept Parkinson to deep backward square to wrap up the innings on the stroke of tea.
Onions then struck in the fourth over of Lancashire’s second innings when he had Tom Smith caught behind by Richardson, leaving the score at three for one.
Haseeb Hameed and Luke Procter, both strong on the drive, were the ones who gave Lancashire a late evening boost by sharing an unbroken 56.
Close, Day One: Durham (88/3; Stoneman 40; Procter 2/7) trail Lancashire (204; Croft 54; Rushworth 4/30) by 116 runs
Durham had the better of Day One after bowling Lancashire out for 204 in their Specsavers County Championship match at Southport.
Replying to the home side’s inadequate 204, Paul Collingwood’s men had reached 88/3 at stumps with Scott Borthwick on 37 not out.
Durham opened in miserly fashion and continued throughout the day, with Chris Rushworth ending with four well-deserved wickets and backed up by the seam bowling unit.
The first Durham wicket to fall was taken by Jimmy Anderson, who is only playing in the first two innings of this game, as the division’s leading run-scorer Keaton Jennings edged to the slips.
But Mark Stoneman and Borthwick both batted in a determined fashion in a 69-run second-wicket stand.
Stoneman was caught by Tom Moores off Luke Procter five overs before the close for 40 and Jack Burnham was then snaffled by Croft at slip for seven off the same bowler off what became the last ball of the day.
Earlier in the day Lancashire’s batsmen proceeded carefully to 81/2 in the morning session after Croft had won the toss and opted to bat on a green but true Trafalgar Road wicket.
The first wicket to fall was that of Smith, who departed to the sixth ball of the morning, when he was caught at third slip by Ben Stokes off Chris Rushworth for nought.
Haseeb Hameed and Procter then mounted the most cautious of recoveries, adding 26 runs in 16.2 overs against an accurate attack.
However, two balls after he was dropped at slip, he perished at the other end when he was pouched by Jennings off Paul Coughlin for 10.
Lancashire lost five wickets in adding 107 runs in the afternoon session as Durham’s persistence brought rewards.
Paul Coughlin had Procter caught behind for 30 in the fourth over after lunch to begin a poor three-over spell for the home side in which they lost two more wickets in scoring 13 runs.
Jack Burnham’s sharp throw from deep midwicket ran out Alviro Petersen for 51, just one ball after the South African has completed his impressive half-century, and Karl Brown was caught behind off Graham Onions for nought.
Debutant Tom Moores and Steven Croft put on 41 for the sixth wicket before Moores edged a drive off Jennings’ sixth delivery and the opening batsman then had Kyle Jarvis caught and bowled.
Croft and Simon Kerrigan took their side to tea without further loss but the evening session brought no respite for the home batsmen.
Kerrigan, Matt Parkinson and Croft all fell to Rushworth, who took those three wickets in 11 balls to finish with four for 30 from 16.1 overs.