Cricket: 2011 County Championship, Division 1, Round 7

Durham ended Lancashire's unbeaten start to the season and went to the top of the table, while Worcestershire won their first game of the season against current holders Nottinghamshire.

Durham thumped Lancashire at Chester-le-Street by an innings and 125 runs, to end the Red Rose County's unbeaten start in style.

Lancashire batted first and posted a competitive 313 thanks to opener Paul Horton's 94. Ian Blackwell's 3-57 the pick of the bowlers.

Durham wobbled to 94-3 before a partnership of 331 between Ben Stokes (185) and Dale Benkenstein (137), plus a brisk 61 from Phil Mustard, powered them to 586.

Glen Chapple (2-97), Gary Keedy (2-101), Luke Procter (2-101) and Tom Smith (2-112) all took two wickets.

The away side were dismissed for just 148 second time around as Blackwell was again chief destroyer with 4-34, while Graham Onions took 3-56 and gave Durham victory by an innings and 125 runs.

Lancashire slip to second 17 points behind Durham but do have a game in hand.

Fifth placed Sussex and seventh placed Yorkshire played out a draw at Hove.

Sussex batted first and amassed 548-4 declared with Murray Goodwin smashing 274 not out and Luke Wells a first-class best of 174. Adil Rashid recorded figures of 0-187 from 35.4 overs.

Yorkshire were bundled out for 273 and it could have been worse at 198-8, but Joe Root (70) and Steven Patterson (53) gave the away side some hope. South African Wayne Parnell took 3-60 and Kirk Wernars 2-13.

Following on, Yorkshire showed tremendous commitment to reach 313-8. Jonny Bairstow hit 76, Gary Ballance 73 not out but lower order batsmen Ajmal Shahzad (one from 16 balls), Ryan Sidebottom (three from 28 balls) and Patterson's (two from 41 balls) hung on in there to help the away side cling on for the draw.

Monty Panesar took 5-89 but both sides have three draws this season and Yorkshire still have just one win from eight matches.

Worcestershire ended their run of six successive county championship defeats as they beat Nottinghamshire by six wickets.

Riki Wessels (67) top-scored for the away side in a total of 223. Damien Wright's 3-40 the pick of the Worcestershire attack.

In reply, Worcestershire collapsed from 223-3 to 243 all out. Moeen Ali hit 84 but Charlie Shreck's 5-84 inspired a Nottinghamshire fightback.

Nottinghamshire found themselves 61-5 before Chris Read (120 not out) and Samit Patel (84) rescued the situation. Chasing victory, Nottinghamshire declared on 273-8, setting the home side a target of 254.

Worcestershire held their nerve to reach their target to win by six wickets with a run rate of 5.56 per over. Vikram Solanki top-scored with 85 to record Worcestershire's first win of the season, while Nottinghamshire slip to sixth having won three, drawn one and lost three games this season.

The result means Hampshire, who have only played six games, slip to the bottom of the table with three draws and three defeats.

The next round of Division One fixtures sees Durham host Yorkshire and Worcestershire play Hampshire from June 18. Nottinghamshire face Lancashire and Warwickshire against Somerset start on June 20.