County Championship: Durham beat Middlesex to seal promotion

Rothesay County Championship, Division Two, Banks Homes Riverside (day four)

Durham 252 & 374 McKinney 184, Ackermann 48; Higgins 4-79

Middlesex 203 & 330: Duke 100*, Geddes 50; Parkinson 4-45, Carse 4-116

Durham (20pts) beat Middlesex (3pts) by 93 runs

Match scorecard

Durham secured promotion back to County Championship Division One at the first time of asking as Callum Parkinson and Brydon Carse bowled them to a 93-run victory over Middlesex.

Having set a distant target of 424 and taken two wickets last evening at the Riverside, they bowled the visitors out for 330, despite Harry Duke's unbeaten 100.

Durham made a dream start as Kasey Aldridge picked up a wicket with the first ball of the day and another fell soon after, but a stand of 64 from Ben Geddes and Ryan Higgins held up their charge towards victory.

But Parkinson accounted for both, only for the ninth-wicket pair of Tom Helm and Duke to offer further prolonged resistance.

However, Parkinson (4-45) who broke the 79-run partnership between the pair and while Yorkshire loanee Duke displayed great defiance with a brilliant maiden first-class century, Carse (4-116) took the final wicket to seal promotion for the hosts.

Resuming on 55-2, Middlesex's aim was to keep their wickets intact and delay Durham's promotion party for a few days at least.

However, that plan was dealt a blow almost immediately when Nathan Fernandes after the Middlesex man edged Aldridge to third slip.

Will Rhodes came into the attack for Durham and picked up the scalp of Middlesex captain Max Holden, caught at first slip, and nearly had their fifth wicket when Carse found the edge of Geddes' bat, but Aldridge could not cling on to a regulation chance.

Higgins picked up two boundaries off Rhodes to relieve some of the pressure on the visitors and Geddes then joined in with a lovely shot down the ground off the bowling of Aldridge.

Their partnership passed 50, but Higginsn was dismissed soon after as he slapped a Parkinson delivery straight to backward point.

Geddes continued his good morning with the bat as he passed 50 for the third time this season, but he then holed out to Mayank Agarwal who took an excellent catch running in from the long-on boundary.

Parkinson bowled Zafar Gohar after lunch with a beauty as Durham closed in on victory and Carse then got Seb Morgan lbw, but Duke and Helm combined to stem the flow of wickets.

Helm was finally lbw for a valiant 32 but Ben McKinney dropped Duke on 95 after the Middlesex man went for a big shot and he reached three figures for the first time in his career from the next ball.

Carse then took the decisive wicket one ball later as he got Naavya Sharma caught behind.

ECB Reporters' Network supported by Rothesay.

by Adam Lanigan, BBC Sport England

Quite simply, Durham have been far, far too good for Division Two. With the players they have been able to use this season, they would be more than a match for every single side in the division above.

A shocking batting collapse at Headingley on the final day of last season sent Durham back into Division Two after two years in the top flight, and they have played all season with a determination to erase that painful memory.

David Bedingham was the leading run-scorer in the division with 1,029 runs before he had to leave early to prepare for South Africa's Test series with Australia next month.

That included five centuries, two more than Emilio Gay, who hit three hundreds in six matches in early season to catapult him into the England Test team.

Matthew Potts has not featured for that side since the Ashes last winter, but England's loss has been Durham's gain with 58 wickets - the leading wicket-taker in the Championship this summer.

Throw in other strong contributions from captain Alex Lees and fellow opening batter Ben McKinney and the evergreen Ben Raine as Potts' new-ball partner and it's clear to see why the north east county have sailed to promotion.

And that's before we even mention Ben Stokes. Durham were already top at the time of his fallout with England in June, but Stokes has thrown himself wholeheartedly into Championship cricket since announcing stepping down as England captain and announcing his retirement from Tests.

Stokes has contributed with bat and ball and to add arguably world cricket's finest player from the last decade to Durham's side has made them untouchable.

Look at the margin of their victories, two by an innings, 10 wickets, nine wickets, eight wickets, 338 runs, they have usually been far too good for their opponents.

The title is only a matter of time as they must surely go down as the strongest second-tier team since two divisions were introduced in 2000.

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