Durham 384 (Bedingham 122, Langridge 3-89) and 4 for 0 beat Gloucestershire 137 (Aldridge 5-16) and 250 (Hammond 58, Aldridge 4-47) by ten wickets

Durham took just six deliveries to seal a ten-wicket victory against Gloucestershire at the BANKShomes Riverside and take another big step towards promotion back to the top flight and the Rothesay County Championship Division Two title.

With second-placed Kent and third-placed Northamptonshire playing each other in this round of matches, Durham’s seventh win of the season seems certain to take the leaders further ahead at the top of the table with four games to play, while Gloucestershire remain firmly rooted to the foot after suffering their ninth defeat in ten.

Needing four runs to win, Durham sent in Matthew Potts and Ollie Robinson to open their second innings, and it was Potts who hit the winning boundary off some gentle off spin from Ollie Price from the final ball of the first over.

It was another convincing victory by the hosts with David Bedingham providing the batting highlight, making a superb century, his fifth Championship century this year, with his innings of 122 taking the South African overseas batter to within 57 runs of 1,000 runs for the season.

That followed a five-wicket haul for Kasey Aldridge as Gloucestershire were bowled out for 137 on the opening day where James Bracey’s battling 60 providing the main resistance.

After Durham had established a 247-run first innings lead, Aldridge struck again with 4-47 to finish with match figures of 9-63 to complete a fine display.

Brydon Carse chipped in with four important wickets and the inclusion of Carse, Ben Stokes and Matty Potts headlined the quality on show in this match to highlight the strength of the competition.

Miles Hammond made 58 as Gloucestershire’s 250 took the visitors just ahead on the third evening before bad light prevented Durham hitting the four runs required until this morning.

Durham travel to Northampton while Gloucestershire return to Bristol to play Derbyshire, who they defeated by ten wickets back in April, in the next round of matches starting on Wednesday.