Durham’s bowling attack rounds off their last-day win over Gloucestershire

But the visitors had to wait for Marcus Harris, who scored his 26th first-class century, to pull off an all-out victory, and Josh Shaw, whose contribution of 44 to a stubborn score of 88 in the eighth wicket, was the best first-class score of his career.

Harris carried his racquet and finished unbeaten with 122, 195 balls and 15 fours. But it was never to be enough, because Patel, the New Zealand Test’s left spinner, followed up his five-for-113 with five-for-96 in the first inning.

Gloucestershire were knocked out by 300 points before lunch on the last day of the game and are still hoping for their first win. They took four points from the game while Durham cemented their lead at the top of the table with 23 points from a fourth win in six games.

At 181 to six early in yesterday’s game, the hosts needed an incredible 245 to win. But Harris was undefeated at 71, and clear blue skies and a calm face gave his team some encouragement.

Matt Taylor helped Harris add 21 to the total but with his score of 12 he missed a defensive drive and was pinned with the left hand by Patel, who bowled the first 11 overs of the day from the Pavilion End.

Harris appeared to weather a difficult Patel chance at 90 when he placed an ankle-level ball just outside of slip Matthew Potts’ reach.

It was the great fortune that the left-handed opener needed to hit triple figures on 163 balls, advancing across the field and hitting Patel mid-13th boundary.

Shaw provided solid support and gradually gained confidence, beating Patel to the long-on limit and then chipping Ben Raine for another four-pointer.

With a single-to-square leg from Bas de Leede, Shaw surpassed his best-ever first-class result of 42, but he had only added a single when he was snapped by Potts after a Patel discard that protruded from the outside leg stump turned.

Shaw had hit six fours and a drawn six against Scott Borthwick but his departure spelled the end of all small Gloucestershire hopes.

Zaman Akhter lasted just four shots before being bowled by Potts, who finished with three for 43 from 19.2 overs.

Ajeet Dale hit a few challenging boundaries before retiring as the last man and taking cover to give Patel his fifth wicket of the inning and tenth of the game.

Harris went unbeaten but the Australian’s valiant effort only highlighted his team-mates’ weaknesses in hitting in an injury-plagued squad.

Durham could take plenty of positives from another impressive performance which will lead her to the move to T20 cricket with a big heart.

Durham head coach Ryan Campbell said: “I impressed Marcus North (Cricket Director) with the importance of bringing a quality spinner into our ranks and Ajaz Patel has been brilliant for us.”

“We had to work hard to beat Gloucestershire twice. It was tough work for both teams over the four days and we owe a lot to the great innings of Graham Clark and our underperforming team in the first innings.

“On that pitch we felt that good runs in the first innings would give us good chances and it paid off. We’re getting where we want to be as a team and everyone has been impressed with the way we’ve approached things this season.

“Durham cricket on a ladder is quite a sight to behold. I grew up in a time when there were great players in Sheffield Shield cricket and the only way to hope to win was to be positive.”