Worcestershire 390 (Wessels 118, Whitely 72, Dell 61) and 84 for 5 (Rushworth 5-28) beat Durham 273 (Bancroft 70, Morris 6-53) and 197 (Tongue 5-37) by 5 wickets
Worcestershire overcame a five wicket blast from Chris Rushworth to register a second successive win on the final day of the County Championship clash with Durham at Blackfinch New Road.
Rushworth picked up five wickets and posed all sorts of problems in reducing Worcestershire to 55 for 5 in pursuit of a modest target of 81 at the start of play. It was the 22nd five-wicket haul of his career and made for a more nervy morning than Worcestershire would have anticipated. He ended with five for 28 off nine overs.
The sixth-wicket pair of Ross Whiteley and Ben Cox saw Worcestershire over the finishing line half an hour before lunch. It completed a 23-point return and followed the maximum haul in the innings victory over Leicestershire at the Fischer County Ground.
Worcestershire again showed their prowess with the ball with Charlie Morris following up his career best 7 for 45 in the win over Leicestershire with a return of 6 for 53 in the first innings.
Josh Tongue confirmed his potential in front of England director of cricket Ashley Giles with a five-wicket haul and skipper Joe Leach confirmed his fitness after 11 months out with a stress fracture of the back to end with match figures of 34.5-5-108-6.
With Wayne Parnell back in contention for Monday’s trip to Old Trafford after being rested against Durham and England Under-19 paceman Dillon Pennington close to fitness, Worcestershire have plenty of depth in their seam bowling department. Australian batsman Callum Ferguson will also be available to face Lancashire after missing the Durham game due to a family commitment.
In contrast Durham suffered their third successive defeat and a lack of substantial scores have led to their downfall. Totals of 171, 235, 224, 189, 273 and 197 have given their bowlers insufficient runs to defend. It has left them anchored at the bottom of the table with just 11 bonus points.
A target of 150 would have presented a substantial challenge to Worcestershire in the overcast conditions and Rushworth asking questions with almost every delivery.
Rushworth was soon into his stride in trapping Daryl Mitchell lbw after he offered no stroke and George Rhode went for a drive and was bowled.
Josh Dell failed to repeat his first-innings half century on debut and also had his stumps shattered by Rushworth.
First innings century maker Riki Wessels was undone by a ball which kept low and castled him for a third-ball duck.
Fell mixed some genuine attacking strokes with fortuitous edges in making 36 off 37 balls with eight fours before he went lbw.
Source: ESPN Crickinfo