DURHAM rushed to their fourth successive victory this morning, and hoped to extend their lead at the top over Nottinghamshire, who were held up by rain at Trent Bridge.

With rain forecast to arrive at Riverside at around 1pm, Durham were anxious to gather the 115 runs they needed at the start of play before lunch.

Michael Di Venuto led the charge with 100 not out off 123 balls, and although four wickets went down, a five-wicket win was achieved at 12.14.

Despite the failure to gain any batting points, Durham took 17 from the game and would be 17 ahead of Nottinghamshire, who have a game in hand, if the match against Lancashire at Trent Bridge was drawn.

Worcestershire gave Durham a big helping hand when Di Venuto was badly dropped at long leg by Alexei Kervezee and gained one run from the stroke to reach 50 off 77 balls.

The runs were scored in 20 overs, with Will Smith, Gordon Muchall and Dale Benkenstein all scoring quickly before they fell to edged catches.

Ian Blackwell made only three before he went for a big drive and skied a catch to extra cover, leaving Phil Mustard to help Di Venuto complete the task.