DAY 1

On an eventful first day at Chester-le-Street Durham lead by 95 runs as they reached 215-9 at the close of play in reply to Worcestershire’s 120 all out.

Worcestershire made one change from the match against Lancashire, with Phil Hughes returning in place of James Cameron.

Durham won the toss and put Worcestershire into bat and the visitors lost their first wicket in the second over of the day when, with the score on 9, Daryl Mitchell was caught by Scott Borthwick at second slip off Chris Rushworth for 5.  Then Worcestershire collapsed from 19-1 to 26-5 as Graham Onions got the wickets of Phil Hughes, caught by Ben Stokes at third slip for 4, and Moeen Ali, trapped lbw for 4, and then Rushworth bowled both Vikram Solanki (0) and Neil Pinner (0).

Matt Pardoe and Joe Leach doubled the score to 52 when Leach was lbw to Callum Thorp for 11 and then Pardoe was the seventh wicket to fall before lunch when he was trapped lbw by Stokes for 36.  At lunch Worcestershire were 85-7 off 29 overs and then in the first over after lunch Gareth Andrew departed when he was caught by Mark Stoneman off Rushworth for 16.  Ben Scott played aggressively by hitting 6 fours before he was caught by Will Smith off Rushworth for 28 and when Alan Richardson was bowled by Onions for 0, to leave Chris Russell unbeaten on 14, Worcestershire were bowled out for 120 off 34.1 overs, with Rushworth finishing with career-best figures of 5-44.

Durham’s reply got off to a bad start as Richardson trapped Stoneman lbw for 0 and Smith was caught by Andrew off Russell for 3 to leave the home side on 8-2 after 8 overs.  Keaton Jennings and Stokes then put on 72 for the third wicket until Jennings was bowled by Russell for 30 in the last over before tea, with the score on 80-3 in the 27th over.

After tea Stokes and Dale Benkenstein added 51 for the fourth wicket until Stokes was bowled by Andrew for 78 off 90 balls, with 12 fours.  Benkenstein was the fifth wicket to fall when he edged an Andrew delivery to Scott for 21, with the score on 152-5 in the 42nd over, and the wickets continued to fall as Phil Mustard (4) was caught by Solanki at first slip off Andrew, Paul Collingwood (17) was also caught by Solanki at first slip off Richardson, with the score on 160-7, and Andrew went on to take five wickets in the innings as he had Thorp bowled for 8 and Onions caught behind by Scott for 8, to leave Durham on 191-9 after 56 overs.

Borthwick (23*) and Rushworth (14*) then took Durham past 200, securing their first batting bonus point, and at the close of play the home side were on 215-9 off 59 overs, with a lead of 95 runs.  For Worcestershire Andrew’s figures were 5-74 off 19 overs, with support from Russell (2-54 off 15 overs) and Richardson (2-56 off 20 overs).

Worcestershire's director of cricket Steve Rhodes spoke to BBC Hereford & Worcester's Trevor Owens after the first day's play at Chester-le-Street;

To listen to the interview please click here

DAY 2

Despite a fantastic century from Phil Hughes Worcestershire collapsed yet again in their second innings as Durham ended the second day on 3-1, requiring a further 148 runs to win.

Resuming on 215-9 in their first innings Durham added a further 19 runs until Scott Borthwick was lbw for 31 off Chris Russell, who took 3-54, and the home side were all out for 234 off 63.2 overs.

Trailing by 114 runs the Worcestershire opening pair of Daryl Mitchell and Phil Hughes survived the rest of the morning session, with Hughes hitting 8 fours, as the visitors went to lunch on 64-0 off 26 overs.

After lunch Hughes reached his 50 off 90 balls, with 9 fours, as the opening partnership went to 100 for only the second time in the Championship this season, and then Hughes continued his assault on the Durham bowlers by going from 50 to 100 in 53 balls to complete his century off 143 balls, with 18 fours.

But then Hughes departed when he edged to Phil Mustard off Ben Stokes for 104 off 149 balls, with 19 fours, to end the first wicket partnership of 148, and then Stokes got the wicket of Mitchell when he was caught by Callum Thorp at gully for 45, with the score on 159-2 in the 51st over.  Matt Pardoe and Moeen Ali then took Worcestershire to tea on 182-2 off 57 overs, with a lead of 68 runs.

But in the evening session it all went wrong for Worcestershire from the moment the third wicket fell when Pardoe pulled straight to Mark Stoneman at deep mid-wicket off Borthwick for 21, with the score on 195-3.  Ali was then caught with his left hand by Will Smith at short leg for 19 and Callum Thorp struck twice in consecutive balls when Vikram Solanki, attempting a pull, top edged and was caught by Mustard for 11 and Joe Leach pulled a short ball straight to Chris Rushworth at long leg for 0 to leave Worcestershire on 212-6 in the 69th over.

5 runs later Borthwick had Gareth Andrew trapped lbw for 5 and then Thorp finished off the innings by getting the wickets of Neil Pinner, lbw for 21, Ben Scott, bowled for 17, and Alan Richardson, caught at deep mid-off by Stoneman for 5, to end up with figures of 5-59, as Worcestershire were bowled out for 264 off 82.5 overs, having lost their last eight wickets for just 69 runs.

Durham required 151 runs to win and had to bat for four overs but Smith played on and was bowled by Russell for 2, with the final ball of the day, to leave Durham on 3-1 at stumps on the second day.

Worcestershire's captain Daryl Mitchell spoke to BBC Hereford & Worcester's Trevor Owens after the second day's play at Chester-le-Street;

To listen to the interview please click here

DAY 3

Worcestershire were beaten by six wickets against Durham after lunch on the third day of their LV= County Championship match at Chester-le-Street.

Resuming on 3-1 Durham lost their second wicket early on when Keaton Jennings was bowled by Alan Richardson for 3, with the score on 10-2 in the 7th over.  Then a brief shower interrupted play for 10 minutes but after the break Richardson made further inroads as he trapped both Ben Stokes (8) and Mark Stoneman (22) lbw to leave Durham on 35-4 in the 11th over.

Worcestershire had a glimmer of hope as Durham still required 116 runs to win but the experienced duo of Dale Benkenstein and Paul Collingwood steadied the ship as they moved the score along to 70-4 after 24 overs.  Then Richardson came out of the attack, with Durham still needing 81 runs to win, and Benkenstein and Collingwood went on the attack by scoring 51 runs in the next 10 overs as Durham went to lunch on 121-4 off 34 overs, with Benkenstein on 46 and Collingwood on 37.

After lunch Benkenstein got to his 50 off 75 balls, with 8 fours, and Collingwood reached his 50 off 93 balls, with 4 fours, as their unbeaten fourth wicket partnership of 119 took Durham to victory just after 2pm, when Benkenstein hit Moeen Ali for 4, with Benkenstein unbeaten on 62 off 97 balls, with 9 fours, and Collingwood unbeaten on 53 off 96 balls, with 4 fours.

For Worcestershire Richardson finished with figures of 3-29 off 14 overs and the other wicket-taker was Chris Russell, with figures of 1-39 off 11 overs.

WORCESTERSHIRE (120 & 264) LOST TO DURHAM (234 & 154-4) BY 6 WICKETS

Worcestershire's director of cricket Steve Rhodes and Alan Richardson both spoke to BBC Hereford & Worcester's Trevor Owens following their 6 wicket defeat against Durham;

Click here for the Steve Rhodes Interview and Click here for the Alan Richardson Interview