County Championship: Bad light frustrates dominant Durham against Leicestershire

Durham will need 10 more wickets on day four to cap a hugely successful season

Durham need 10 wickets on the final day of their County Championship game against Leicestershire to wrap up their Division Two title-winning season with a victory at Seat Unique Riverside.

The hosts were frustrated by a wet outfield and bad light in their bid to clinch their seventh win of the season within three days.

Play eventually got under way after lunch in the afternoon, when Durham managed to claim the remaining four wickets of the Leicestershire first innings for 143 as Ben Raine finished with season-best figures of 5-51 and Vishwa Fernando 4-40.

Durham enforced the follow-on with a huge lead of 314 runs but overcast conditions worsened at Chester-le-Street to prevent the hosts from inflicting further damage on the visitors as only 22.4 overs were possible on day three.

Play was initially delayed due to a wet outfield, prompting an early lunch.

The action resumed at 13:30 BST with the visitors on 96-6 and Ben Cox and Tom Scriven at the crease, only for another stoppage for bad light to halt proceedings after four overs.

On their return to the field, Raine struck with his second ball by pinning Scriven lbw for 11 to claim his first five-wicket haul of the season.

Durham continued to capitalise on advantageous bowling conditions when Matthew Potts, substituted into the side for Paul Coughlin following the culmination of England's ODI series against Ireland, bowled Chris Wright with a delivery that kept low.

Will Davis went down swinging against the Division Two champions. He scored three boundaries in a row from one Jonathan Bushnell over, including a six over long-on, before he tried one blow too many and missed a straight one from Fernando that cannoned off his back leg.

The left-arm seamer wrapped up the innings with his fourth wicket, removing Josh Hull to dismiss the visitors for 143 with a deficit of 314.

Durham skipper Scott Borthwick enforced the follow-on but his side's attempts to make inroads into the Leicestershire second innings were blighted by bad light.

The umpires eventually called time with Leicestershire 13 without loss, although they still trail the hosts by 301 in their bid to avoid an innings defeat on the final day of the campaign.

Report supplied by ECB Reporters' Network.