Hampshire have given their survival hopes a major boost

Hampshire are off the bottom of the LV= County Championship Division One table after securing a seven-wicket win at Durham.

Skipper James Vince made 76 not out as the visitors successfully chased down a target of 163 on day three at Chester-le-Street, to win their second match in a row.

Hampshire are now just five points behind Somerset in the battle to avoid the second relegation spot and the two counties meet in a crucial match at Taunton next week.

Durham began day three on 126-6, a lead of 88, but no play was possible before lunch due to rain.

The hosts did not hang around when the action did get underway, adding 74 in 15.3 overs before they were all out for 200.

Chris Rushworth made an unbeaten 33 off 34 balls, hooking and driving Gareth Berg (2-53) for two sixes and adding 36 for the last wicket with Graham Onions (15), before Ryan Stevenson claimed his maiden first-class wicket when Onions was caught at point.

Fidel Edwards finished with figures of 4-43 but the paceman had to go off before the end of the innings with a hamstring injury and may be a doubt for next week.

When Hampshire set off in pursuit of their target, Rushworth claimed his 86th first-class wicket of the season when Jimmy Adams was bowled shouldering arms, having contributed three to an opening stand of 35.

It was 75-2 when Michael Carberry skied a pull off Onions and wicketkeeper Michael Richardson ran 25 yards to take a good catch, before holding onto a more regulation chance off Onions to remove Will Smith (one).

That made it 84-3 but Onions and Rushworth had bowled 11 overs each by that stage.

Batting became easier when the new ball duo were taken off and Vince and Liam Dawson (34 not out) took advantage, putting together an unbeaten stand of 76, the final 64 runs needed for victory coming in just 6.3 overs.

At Edgbaston, Tim Ambrose made a fine 84 not out to drag Warwickshire out of trouble against second-placed Middlesex.

After a day one wash-out, the hosts began day three on 21-1 in reply to 207, before slumping to 86-6 on a wearing pitch.

However, when bad light brought an early halt to proceedings, they had reached 224-8 as Ambrose received excellent support from Keith Barker (30) and Chris Wright (16 not out).

Ambrose added 87 in 27 overs with Barker and an unbroken 50 in 17 with Wright before bad light ended play 21 overs early.

It was a frustrating day for Middlesex, who took five wickets for 64 runs in the day's first 25 overs.

Off-spinner Ollie Rayner's third ball of the day dismissed William Porterfield (one), caught behind, before Toby Roland-Jones removed Jonathan Trott (10) and Tim Murtagh (4-41) took three wickets in 16 balls without conceding a run.

That haul included Varun Chopra, who resisted for a hard-fought 44, but was superbly caught by Sam Robson off the full face of the bat at gully.

However, Ambrose knuckled down and has so far faced 139 balls, hitting 13 fours, to guide the hosts into a first innings lead.

The weather delays mean a draw is clearly the most likely result but Warwickshire will hope spinner Jeetan Patel can cause some problems on the final day on a turning wicket.

Records tumbled at New Road as Luke Wright of Sussex scored the first double-hundred of his career and put together a huge fourth-wicket stand with Ben Brown.

Sussex began day three on 251-3 in reply to 210 all out and Wright (226 not out) and Brown (103) went on to set a record for the highest-ever Sussex partnership against Worcestershire for any wicket - 282 in 64 overs for the fourth wicket.

Wright survived chances on 118, 175 and 204 but also produced a string of powerful shots, batting for six and a quarter hours and hitting 28 boundaries and seven maximums.

Sussex eventually declared on 510-5, a lead of exactly 300, and then reduced Worcestershire to 59-3 in gloomy light, as Brett D'Oliveira (0), Daryl Mitchell (10) and Tom Fell (26) were all dismissed.