Durham opened up a handy 23-point lead at the top of the LV= County Championship First Division table with a five-wicket win over second-placed Lancashire at Liverpool.

In-form Dale Benkenstein guided the visitors past their victory target of 181 in reasonable comfort after they had begun the third day of a low-scoring contest perilously placed at 27-3.

Benkenstein completed the chase with an unbeaten 60 after he had come in this morning following the wicket of Paul Collingwood, whose 45 had steadied matters.

Benkenstein reached his half-century off 81 balls before hitting the winning runs two overs later having faced 89 balls with seven fours.

Lancashire’s only saving grace is that they have played one match less than their opponents, who have won both matches between the sides this summer.

Collingwood dug in on a tense third morning to ease Durham out of trouble.

He made the most of being dropped on 21 by Paul Horton at first slip off Kyle Hogg’s bowling.

The right-hander shared 58-run stand for the fourth wicket with opener Will Smith, who dropped anchor for an important 30.

While both fell before lunch with Durham still 80 runs short of their target, Benkenstein’s second half-century of the match, which took him past 1,000 Championship runs for the season, secured the win midway through the afternoon.