Brydon Carse produced career-best figures to put Durham in control of their County Championship Division Two meeting against Leicestershire, although the visitors mustered a resilient response after being forced to follow-on at Emirates Riverside.

Carse continued his surge from day two when he accounted for three of the four Leicestershire wickets to fall. The 24-year-old added another three scalps to bowl the visitors out for 236, ending with 6-63, while Chris Rushworth also struck twice.

Leicestershire were asked to follow-on still trailing the hosts by 308.

However, they were dogged in the afternoon and evening sessions as Hassan Azad notched his second half-century of the game. Carse added another strike, while Cameron Steel notched a late wicket to keep Durham on course for victory, requiring another seven wickets on the final day, still leading by 155 runs.

The visitors resumed on 152-4 in their first innings with the hope of grinding down Durham's advantage. Carse had an early blast at Colin Ackermann and Chris Wright after his impressive burst the previous evening.

The batsmen managed to see off the threat, but Ben Raine's introduction provided the first breakthrough of the morning as Ackermann edged to Peter Handscomb at second slip.

Wright scored 27 valuable runs, but Carse returned to remove the night-watchman, who was adjudged to have feathered a catch through to Ned Eckersley. The visitors needed a partnership to prevent Durham taking complete control. Harry Dearden and Harry Swindells held firm until the lunch break.

Their patience was rewarded in the afternoon as they reached their 50 partnership, adding important runs for the seventh wicket. However, the arrival of the new ball proved their downfall as the two players were out in successive deliveries. Swindells fell first lbw to Rushworth before Carse claimed his fifth strike of the innings by dismissing Dearden.

Carse's impressive spell continued as he notched his sixth wicket to take him to his career-best figures when Will Davis chipped the ball straight to Nathan Rimmington at mid-off. The Leicestershire innings ended with a whimper with Gavin Griffiths losing his off-stump after leaving a straight delivery from Rushworth.

With a lead of 308 Durham enforced the follow-on, for the first time since August 2017. They almost made instant inroads when Paul Horton edged a Carse delivery to slip, but Peter Handscomb failed to cling on with his diving effort.

Carse's pace caused problems for Azad, striking the left-hander on the helmet. Both players survived the new ball and like the first innings were able to build a solid partnership, putting on a stand of 50 in the 21st over to slow reduce the deficit.

Durham’s breakthrough came as Horton edged a Raine delivery through to Eckersley down the leg-side. Azad scored his second 50 of the game, displaying patience to reach the milestone from 125 balls.

However, Carse's pace was too much for him again, guiding a riser behind to Eckersley. Neil Dexter and Mark Cosgrove looked to see out the rest of the day, but Steel pinned Dexter lbw in the final over.

Durham skipper Eckersley said: "We've had a very nice day again. The boys have played very well over the course of the three days.

“There's still a lot of hard work to do on what is a good wicket. Brydon Carse has been outstanding getting his career-best figures, especially on this type of pitch. To bowl with the energy and pace that he did gave us that X-factor.

“Hopefully he can turn up tomorrow and do that again. The bowlers that supported him were terrific. Now we have to come back and do those things again."