Durham v Worcestershire at Chester-le-Street August 21-23, 2012
Worcestershire 120 (C Rushworth 5-44) and 264 (PJ Hughes 104, CD Thorp 5-59) Durham 234 (BA Stokes 78, GM Andrew 5-86) and 154-4 (DM Benkenstein 62*, PD Collingwood 53*)
Durham won by six wickets
Durham 20 points. Worcestershire 3 points
Durham had made a disappointing start to 2012 as they failed to win any of their first ten Championship matches. However, this victory was a fourth consecutive win in the Championship and the fifth in a row in first-class cricket. This turnaround meant that they rose from the foot of the table to finish the season sixth and avoided relegation.
The first day saw 19 wickets fall with the ball swinging throughout. Worcestershire were put into bat and were all out early in the afternoon for 120 in just 34.1 overs. Chris Rushworth took five wickets as he secured what at the time were his best figures in first-class cricket. This included his 50th wicket in the County Championship. Graham Onions took three wickets including his 350th in the Championship.
Durham slumped to 8 for two but Keaton Jennings with 30 and Ben Stokes with 78 steadied the ship. However, wickets continued to fall at regular intervals and by the close Durham were 215 for nine and they were all out early on the second morning. The tenth wicket partnership of Scott Borthwick and Chris Rushworth had added a crucial 41 runs.
On the second day Worcestershire wiped out the first innings deficit with an opening stand of 148 between Daryl Mitchell and the Australian, Philip Hughes. However, Ben Stokes dismissed both for 45 and 104 respectively. After tea, Worcestershire rather squandered their strong position with some poor batting. Callum Thorp took five wickets and Scott Borthwick picked up three.
Needing 151 to win Durham lost Will Smith before the end of the second day and the next morning victory seemed a long way off when they slumped to 35 for four with Alan Richardson, who had three of the wickets, leading the attack for the visitors. Two reliable batsmen in Dale Benkenstein and Paul Collingwood then held firm in an unbroken century stand that saw Durham victorious.