NOTTINGHAMSHIRE secured promotion to Division One of the LV= Insurance County Championship and are effectively Division Two champions already, although their supporters will have to wait until the final day of the season to see it mathematically confirmed in their game against Durham.

They bowled Durham out for 207 just 10 overs after lunch in reply to their mammoth 662 for five declared. Yet they eschewed the chance to win the title with a flourish - and perhaps a day to spare - by not enforcing the follow-on, to the bemusement of some spectators.

In the event, after bad light kept the players off for the best part of an hour, Nottinghamshire declared their second innings on 121 for two, with Haseeb Hameed 49 not out, and Joe Clarke on 48.

It left Durham, now 576 behind, with 14 overs to face when they re-emerged, of which eight were possible before the light closed in again.They finished 14 for two, having lost Sean Dickson, caught at third slip fending at Stuart Broad for a duck, and night-watchman George Drissell leg before to Luke Fletcher for six.

Two down for 53 and still 609 behind overnight on first innings, Durham were in dire straits at 155 for six at lunch as they batted first time around.

Scott Borthwick, who struck three positive early boundaries despite protecting a broken finger, cut Fletcher straight into the hands of backward point and Drissell gave a tame catch to midwicket.

Nic Maddinson went on the attack, smiting three sixes off Liam Patterson-White’s left arm spin. But his violent innings ended with a tentative push at a ball from Broad, giving first slip a regulation catch. New batsman Chris Benjamin was snapped up at short leg in the next over, giving Patterson-White his second wicket.

It left Durham in a sorry state, which worsened immediately after lunch when Ben Raine was leg before to Dane Paterson and Jonathan Bushnell (37) nudged the spinner to slip.

Matty Potts (40) holed out to deep wicket, ending the Durham innings and giving Nottinghamshire a third batting point, securing promotion. Paterson finished with three for 50, Patterson-White three for 72.

After Nottinghamshire’s decision to bat again, Potts picked up his 58th wicket of the season as Ben Slater edged to first slip, before Matt Montgomery fell for nine following his first-innings 178, giving a similarly straightforward catch to second slip.

Bad light descended at 4.35pm, and the loss of overs prompted the Nottinghamshire declaration, which among other things denied Clarke his last opportunity to score an elusive first hundred of the season.