Durham in control heading into final day.

Borthwick made 92 as Durham posted 267.

Durham require eight more wickets to earn their first win of the County Championship season after they enjoyed a successful third day against Lancashire who closed on 41-2 at Chester-le-Street.

Lancashire were set a target of 340 after they were made to work hard for their wickets, as Tom Smith (5-42) and Kyle Hogg (3-49) restricted Durham’s progress in the afternoon session.

Early damage had been dealt by Scott Borthwick who made 92 as Durham were bowled out for 267 in their second innings, with Paul Collingwood (47) and John Hastings (40) playing useful supplementary roles.

Resuming on 16-0, Mark Stoneman (14) and Keaton Jennings were aiming to enhance Durham’s overnight lead of 88 runs, but two early wickets gave Lancashire a positive start to the day.

The first was that of Stoneman, who was dismissed by a stunning catch at first–slip from Paul Horton and Jennings (12) soon followed as Durham were pegged-back to 36/2.

But with a first-innings lead of 72 runs, Durham could afford a few setbacks before any real anxiety started to ensue. The hosts were clearly aiming to build on this lead and the addition of just 25 runs in the first hour demonstrated their dedication to the task at hand.

Nevertheless, when Mark Richardson was trapped lbw by Smith for 9, Durham were beginning to falter and their first-innings lead soon became very important when Ben Stokes found a leading edge back to the bowler two balls later as the hosts fell to 62/4.

Now in disarray, Durham needed a steady hand to guide them towards the lead which they had hoped for at the start of the third day and Borthwick obliged with a brisk 92 to alleviate the anxiety of the home crowd.

Captain, Paul Collingwood, assisted Borthwick effectively and the pair added 99 runs as the match started to drift away from Lancashire once more.

They continued their assault after lunch and Borthwick played a particularly eye-catching innings as he struck 12 fours and a six before he was caught on the deep mid-wicket boundary off Simon Kerrigan (1-57).

Collingwood continued to play a crucial role for Durham, but the loss of three wickets for 21 runs unsettled the hosts, as they were restricted in their progress of setting Lancashire an insurmountable target.

Smith’s season has been something to behold and he claimed all three of these wickets to further his cause for an England call-up. The first of these victims was Gordon Muchall, who edged behind to Jos Buttler for 15 and Phil Mustard followed two balls later, failing to mimic his first-innings performance as he stepped across his stumps and was out lbw to Smith, with Durham now on 193/7.

Lancashire were familiar with allowing late-order runs to change their fortunes and the last three Durham wickets added 74 runs to ensure that Collingwood’s men would post a threatening target.

But the Durham captain was denied a half-century by Smith, who claimed his third five-wicket-haul of the season and, at the time of the wicket, had figures of 5-25.

Hastings played with aggression and now joined by debutant, Paul Coughlin, Durham aimed to add further runs to take the host’s lead beyond 300. Hogg returned with the new ball to remove Hastings for a brisk but useful 40 and ended the innings by dismissing Coughlin for 15, to finish with match-figures of 9-119.

With 15 overs to face, Lancashire would have ideally wanted to finish the third day unscathed, but Chris Rushworth removed both opening batsmen to put Durham in control heading into the final day.

Horton fell lbw to the sixth ball of the innings without scoring and with just six balls remaining, Alex Davies was also out lbw for 18, with Usman Khawaja unbeaten on 10 at stumps.