EXPERIENCE was the key for Durham yesterday as they survived a few jitters to secure their crucial five-wicket win at Liverpool.

Dale Benkenstein remained totally unflappable in his chanceless unbeaten 60 after Paul Collingwood had set Durham on the way with an innings of 45.

Lancashire put down two regulation catches - one at slip early in the day with Collingwood on 20 and one at long leg with Ian Blackwell on 13 and 58 still needed for victory.

Blackwell had already almost run himself out, but after surviving the easy chance to Kyle Hogg he settled down and remained very restrained in allowing Benkenstein to complete the task.

A lofted straight four off left-arm spinner Gary Keedy took Benkenstein to his tenth half-century in 15 championship innings - an astonishing level of consistency.

Keedy had struck with his second ball, pinning Will Smith lbw for 30, and also appealed for lbw off the next ball against Blackwell, who responded by taking a step down the pitch to loft him first bounce over the rope at long-on.

For his next run Blackwell attempted a risky single to extra cover and would have been run out had Luke Procter's shy hit the stumps.

His even luckier escape came when a skied hook off Sajid Mahmood went straight to long leg, where Hogg spilled the easy chance.

The frustrated Mahmood then persisted in bowling short, but Blackwell would not be tempted into any more indiscretions and when Benkenstein pulled Mahmood for four the fight was visibly draining out of Lancashire.

Collingwood initially shouldered the responsibility for guiding Durham towards their target.

He was on two when Durham resumed on 27 for three and had taken the total to 84 before falling to a stunning catch at third slip by Steven Croft.

He was dropped on 20 by Paul Horton at first slip off Hogg and was beaten twice in an over by Mahmood as well as fending off a waist-high full toss, for which the bowler received a warning. But once ten overs had been bowled the tension began to subside.

Not surprisingly, there were several impassioned appeals from Lancashire. But the only one which carried much substance was when a ball from Hogg struck Collingwood's bat and pad at roughly the same time.

The ex-England man scored 33 of the 35 runs which came off the bat in the first hour, with Smith was content to survive, although he was always alert to the possibility of a quick single for his partner.

Smith saw little of the strike in the first half hour and took 31 minutes to add to his overnight eight.

He scored one more run before a brief shower halted play after an hour with the score on 65 for three and Collingwood on 35.

There was only a ten-minute delay and when Pakistani Junaid Khan replaced Hogg on the resumption Collingwood took ten runs off the over.

He pulled the second ball for four then earned a streaky boundary when he shaped to turn the ball to leg and it flew off the back of the bat wide of gully.

But when Mahmood was also rested after an impressive spell, Collingwood drove at Procter's second ball and the edge flew very quickly high to Croft's left. He did well to see it, never mind catch it.

Smith began to find some fluency with a clip to the mid-wicket boundary off Khan, followed by a cut for four. But at 101 for four Keedy was finally introduced and had Smith lbw for 30 with his second ball.

The batsman was shaping to play to leg off the back foot and looked very disappointed with the decision, but Benkenstein was already established and as long as he was there Durham were always going to win.

SCORECARD

Lancashire v Durham
At Liverpool
Overnight: Lancashire 84 (C D Thorp 6-20)
and 282 (P J Horton 64, L AProcter 52; G
Onions 4-74). Durham 186 (D M Benkenstein
83 no) and 27-3.

Durham Second Innings
W R Smith lbw b Keedy 30
P D Collingwood c Croft b Procter 45
D M Benkenstein not out 60
I D Blackwell not out 26
Extras (lb3 nb2 pens 0) 5
Total 5 wkts (53.4 overs) 182
Fall: 1-11 2-23 3-24 4-82 5-101
Did Not Bat: P Mustard, S G Borthwick, C D
Thorp, S J Harmison.
Total Bonus Pts: Lancashire 3 Durham 3
Bowling: Hogg 15-2-51-2. Junaid Khan 14-
3-46-0. Mahmood 15-4-40-1. Procter 4-0-
11-1. Keedy 5.4-0-31-1.
Durham (19pts) beat Lancashire (3pts) by 5 wkts