BRING on the Roses rivals. That was the battle-cry from Durham skipper Mike Hussey after leading his team to their third win out of three in the championship.

They consolidated top spot in division two by beating Somerset by four wickets at Stockton yesterday and now face Lancashire at Old Trafford tomorrow then Yorkshire at Riverside, starting on Friday week.

"Lancashire are an outstanding team and it's going to be a great test for us," said Hussey. "We are looking forward to the challenge."

Coach Martyn Moxon added: "We had to work very hard for this win. It was the most pleasing of the three because we certainly didn't have things all our own way.

"We would have been struggling without the first innings stand between Liam Plunkett and Mark Davies, then in the second innings we saw the benefit of our experienced signings.

"It's always a challenge to make 240 in the fourth innings on any surface and we had a great partnership between Dale Benkenstein and Gareth Breese.

"It has been a fantastic start and I am delighted. The pleasing thing here has been the character we have shown because we have been under the cosh at times and Andrew Caddick has been outstanding."

After the local heroes stole the show on Saturday, it was the imports who brought their experience to bear as Durham chased a target of 243.

When Hussey was out for 51 it was finely balanced at 98 for four, with Caddick having taken all the wickets.

But after scoring 54 in the morning, Durham's nemesis needed some support and found it sadly lacking as Benkenstein and Breese put on 87.

Somerset must be as sick of the sight of Breese as Durham are of Caddick as the Jamaican followed his unbeaten 165 in last May's one-wicket win at Taunton with 79 not out, his second highest score for Durham.

They had the benefit of blue skies and a lack of fizz in the opposition, who are being led by Marcus Trescothick until South Africa captain Graeme Smith arrives at the end of the month.

Once Caddick rested after 16 overs broken only by lunch, the Durham pair found it increasingly easy to pick off the runs.

They needed 76 at tea and Caddick predictably returned to beat the bat a few times, but lolloping medium pacer Aaron Laraman came on at the other end and Benkenstein on-drove his first two balls for four and followed up with a straight-driven boundary three balls later.

Supposedly an all-rounder, who spent several seasons with Middlesex, Laraman took one wicket in the match, scored eight runs and invited ridicule in the field by wearing a woolly hat.

Benkenstein hit eight fours in making 51 off 103 balls before being caught behind when Caddick returned to give Durham more jitters after tea.

It was his eighth five-wicket haul against Durham and he continued to pose problems when Phil Mustard joined Breese.

The wicketkeeper contributed 16 to a stand of 28 before being bowled offering no stroke, to bring in Plunkett with 26 needed.

He again played Caddick well and with the target down to 16 Trescothick turned to the left-arm spin of Ian Blackwell.

Breese took 14 off the over, all on the leg side, and finished the job with a square cut off Caddick, whose six for 98 gave him match figures of 12 for 204.

It is only the second time Durham have recorded a hat-trick of championship wins. In July, 1999, the last year of David Boon's captaincy, they beat Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire at Riverside then thrashed Gloucestershire by an innings and 127 runs at Cheltenham.

Durham's promotion credentials will be tested in their next two games and against Yorkshire they will not have Steve Harmison.

The England paceman looked a little short of rhythm yesterday morning when Somerset resumed on 219 for eight, 173 ahead, and added a further 69.

Blackwell continued to pick up runs easily, although an inside edge off Plunkett just missed leg stump in the fourth over.

It was a surprise when Plunkett made way after three overs for Breese, whose six overs of off spin looked fairly innocuous and cost 26 runs.

Durham took the two remaining wickets more through luck than good judgement. Blackwell had reached 87 when he skied a pull off Harmison to long leg, where Plunkett comfortably took the catch.

The ninth wicket pair had put on 78 and there was more to come as last man Simon Francis drove Breese over long-on for six and followed up with an off-driven four.

When Mark Davies replaced Harmison, Caddick turned him behind square for a single to reach 50 off 77 balls and the stand was worth 37 when Paul Collingwood, who took five wickets in the first innings, finally replaced Breese.

Caddick shaped to cut his first ball and dragged it into his stumps to end an hour's batting and leave Durham with a minimum of 76 overs to make the runs.

Hussey's crisp pulling and driving got them off to a brisk start, but Jon Lewis was bowled off his pads by Caddick, who really bent his back on the arrival of Collingwood.

A look of astonishment greeted the rejection of one lbw appeal by umpire Barry Dudleston, but the next one was upheld.

Gordon Muchall made 23 before pulling to square leg, but Hussey raced to his half-century off 56 balls before edging a beauty from Caddick to Rob Turner.

But Caddick had to rest some time and Durham's fifth wicket pair enjoyed themselves in his absence, with Benkenstein admitting he was determined to make up for a poor shot in the first innings.

By the time he was out victory was in sight, and Durham will now look forward to their battle with Muthiah Muralitharan.