Durham recorded their first win of the season in beating Lancashire by 73 runs on the final day of their Specsavers County Championship match at Chester-le-Street.
Set 325 to win, Lancashire were bowled out for 251 after tea, with Liam Livingstone unbeaten on 60, having batted for over three hours to secure his third half-century of the season for Lancashire, who suffered their first defeat in four matches.
Durham's declaration on the fourth morning was a signal of intent from the home side, who went in search of their first victory of the season. Lancashire made a good start thanks to a quick-fire 41 from opener Karl Brown, but regular wickets cost them dearly, as Livingstone's endurance proved to be in vain.
Scott Borthwick's back-to-back centuries in this match allows Durham to declare on 239/4, after the dangerous allrounder had hit an unbeaten 103 on the third day to put the hosts in with a strong chance of taking all ten wickets on the final day.
The Lancashire run-chase got off to a shaky start when the dependable Haseeb Hameed (4) fell leg before at the end of the second over to James Weighell (3-45), but Brown was determined to give the visitors a strong platform to build on, as he hit regular boundaries to frustrate the Durham seamers.
With Lancashire's opening NatWest T20 Blast fixture against Derbyshire starting on Saturday, Brown gave the crowd a taste of what to expect when limited-overs cricket returns, as he hit nine boundaries in his innings of 41 from 26 balls. Brown hit four boundaries in one over from Weighell, as he and Graham Onions received disdained treatment from a counterattacking Brown.
Rather than retreating in an attempt to save the draw, Brown was firmly of the belief that Lancashire could in fact go on to win the match, but these plans were put on hold when Onions (2-65) had Brown trapped lbw at 50/2 at the end of the seventh over. Luke Procter (21) and Alviro Petersen added a solid partnership worth 44 runs for the third wicket, as Lancashire approached lunch with an air of confidence.
However, a cluster of wickets before the interval ensured that Durham regained control of proceedings, as Lancashire slipped from 94/2 to 97/5 in the space of 16 balls. Petersen managed to pick out Keaton Jennings in the covers when he slashed a wide ball from Brydon Carse (3-38) straight to the fielder, as he fell for 22.
Carse struck again in his next over, forcing Procter to edge to Borthwick at second slip and the Lancashire captain fell six balls later to Barry McCarthy, with Steven Croft (1) being judged to have edged behind to Michael Richardson. This disastrous spell shifted Lancashire focus from victory to survival, while Durham revelled in their success prior to the lunch interval.
Lancashire began the afternoon session in disarray on 105/5, but Alex Davies and Livingstone established a necessary resistance to Durham's onslaught, adding 67 runs inside 18 overs. Davies fell for 39 when he edged behind to Richardson off Weighell at 164/6, before Carse's third and final wicket of the innings saw Tom Bailey (15) out in the same manner to a sharper delivery with extra bounce.
Dark and threatening clouds hovered over Riverside, with Lancashire hoping that a last burst of rain would come to their rescue. Conditions were tough for the batsmen, with the floodlights operating at maximum power for the better part of an hour in the afternoon session to keep the players on the pitch, much to Lancashire's disappointment.
Durham continued to erode at Lancashire's resilience, as Borthwick struck another breakthrough in the first over of a new spell, with Jennings taking a fortunate juggling catch at short leg to remove Neil Wagner (4) after the ball had been hit hard at his boot and shot into the air to the man fielding in close.
Lancashire's last hope of salvaging a draw, or perhaps a victory from this game, rested on Barrow-born Livingstone, who had already recorded a maiden first-class century this season at Somerset. Livingstone was forced to deviate from his naturally free-scoring approach, with Kyle Jarvis offering useful support to his efforts.
The duo added 56 runs for the ninth-wicket partnership, bringing a Lancashire victory back into contention, although tea proved to disrupt their rhythm, as Jarvis (28) and Simon Kerrigan were both out in quick succession after the interval. Livingstone reached a 91-ball fifty after dispatching Ryan Pringle for consecutive sixes, with Lancashire reaching tea on 237/8, still needing 88 runs to achieve an unlikely win.
Jarvis, who was unbeaten on 24 prior to tea, fell in the third over after the break when he was the next Lancashire batsman to offer Jennings a chance at short leg, with Weighell collecting his third wicket of the innings to put the visitors on the verge of their first win of the season. Onions then completed the victory when he bowled Kerrigan for two, as Lancashire were bowled out for 251 in 67 overs.
Lancashire are back in action in four-day cricket on Sunday when they host promotion-rivals Surrey at Emirates Old Trafford, but not before they take on Derbyshire Falcons in their first Twenty20 match of the season.
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