Harmy and Thorp wrap up win

Thorp: career-best figures

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LV County Championship - Division One
Canterbury - Day Four
Kent 225 (R W T Key 58, S J Harmison 4-89) & 204 (R McLaren 65 no, J M Kemp 54, C D Thorp 7-88) v Durham 500-8 dec (G R Breese 121 no, M J Di Venuto 90, P Mustard 83, W R Smith 81)
Durham (22pts) beat Kent (3pts) by an innings and 71 runs

Durham quickly took the five wickets on Saturday morning which completed an innings victory over Kent, moving England's newest county to within touching distance of a maiden county championship title tonight.

Callum Thorp's career-best seven for 88 and three wickets for Steve Harmison hastened Durham to an innings-and-71-run win against their hapless hosts - who are relegated from LV Division One.

Until Harmison joined Thorp in the wickets column, the Australian seamer stayed in with a shot at taking all 10 at Canterbury.

By breaking Justin Kemp and his fellow South African Ryan McLaren's defiant century stand and then seeing off Yasir Arafat too, Thorp was the driving force in the victory but was well supported by Harmison.

McLaren remained unbeaten on 65 out of 204 all out - but could not hold back the Durham tide on his own.

England fast bowler Harmison was operating in tandem with Australian Thorp, despite a cracked bone in his guide-arm wrist - an injury he suffered in the field on Friday and which needed a cast for protection.

Harmison got his reward when he brought a quick ball back up the hill from the Nackington Road end to bowl James Tredwell for a duck, the left-hander offering no shot.

Not content with that, Harmison (three for 58) then took the final two wickets in two balls - Robbie Joseph fencing a catch to second slip and number 11 Martin Saggers clean-bowled.

Day Three

Durham boosted their bid to win the County Championship title for the first time on day three at Canterbury, pushing Kent closer to the drop in the process.

The home side reached the close on 159-5 , still 117 runs away from making their opponents bat again in a crucial top-flight fixture for both sides.

With Lancashire on the verge of victory at Taunton and Yorkshire on top against Sussex at Hove, Kent are facing the prospect of playing in Division Two for the first time.

They had no answer to Callum Thorp when they were asked to bat again for the second time, the Australian-born all-rounder taking the first five wickets to fall.

He removed Rob Key for a golden duck to round off a miserable day for the Kent captain after he had earlier been reprimanded and fined £1,250 by the ECB for comments about a pitch panel convened at Durham's ground in August.

Justin Kemp and Ryan McLaren put on a partnership of 101 to halt the progress of Durham, who had declared their first innings on a massive 500-8.

Resuming on 46 not out, Gareth Breese went on to make his fourth first-class century, finishing up unbeaten on 121 having hit 13 fours and a six.

He was given excellent support by Phil Mustard, the wicketkeeper blasting 83 out of a seventh-wicket stand of 148 that put Dale Benkenstein's team in firm control of a match they must win if they are to finish on top.

Day Two

Durham stayed in the hunt for the title with Michael Di Venuto hitting 90 to help build a 64-run lead at Kent.

The hosts managed to add another 35 runs to the board as they were bowled out for 225, but Di Venuto's knock and an 81 from Will Smith guided Durham to 289-6 at the close to stay in charge of the match.

With just one wicket remaining at the start of the day James Tedwell (38) and Martin Saggers (10) managed to at least get Kent over the 200 mark.

After being bowled out for 225, Kent then struggled to make in-roads with the ball as Australian left-hander Di Venuto and Ben Harmison enjoyed an opening stand of 92.

Di Venuto and Smith then put on 49 for the second wicket as Durham took charge by making their way to 141-2 when the Australian went for 90 from 133 balls.

Smith added 60 with Shivnarine Chanderpaul and 65 with Gareth Breese before his wicket fell to Ryan McLaren with his resistance ended on 81.

McLaren then got rid of night watchman Mark Davies for a duck and the two quick wickets at least give Kent some hope for the rest of thegame.

Day One

Kent lost five wickets for 16 runs to end a weather-affected day on 190-9 against Durham at Canterbury.

The weather did both teams no favours as they search for a vital win in their Division One clash.

The relegation-threatened hosts and title-chasing visitors saw 44 overs lost on the opening day, with play abandoned at tea because of bad light.

The hosts were undone by the Harmison brothers - with Steve taking four for 72 and Ben claiming two for 34 - while Mark Davies also took two for 33.

After losing the toss and being put into bat, Kent lost Joe Denly to the third ball of the day after he edged behind off Steve Harmison.

Geraint Jones then hit a quick 25 before he fell lbw to Davies without playing a shot and at lunch the hosts were 81 for two.

Dismissed

Martin van Jaarsveld was dismissed for 12 in the first over after the break after a leading edge from a pull shot went for a catch to mid-off.

But Rob Key had been scoring steadily and he reached his half-century from 86 balls with eight boundaries.

Along with Darren Stevens, the pair brought about some stability to the Kent innings before Stevens was out for 41 after a fourth wicket stand of 66.

Kent were on 141 but his dismissal brought about a major collapse as the hosts then lost five wickets for 16 runs within eight overs.

Key was out for 58 to an excellent ball from Steve Harmison which moved away from him, taking a thin edge for a catch behind the stumps.

Caught behind

Ben Harmison then had Ryan McLaren caught behind for no score, before Steve trapped Justin Kemp leg before wicket for five.

Both fell with the scoreboard showing 150 and seven runs later Steve Harmison accounted for Yasir Arafat (five) whose cut was held at gully.

Robbie Joseph scored 19 and took the total to 180 before he edged Thorp to give wicketkeeper Phil Mustard his third catch.

With nine wickets down, tea would have been delayed but with bad light intervening the players came off and eventually play was abandoned for the day with no improvement in conditions.