THE burgeoning talent of Jack Burnham propelled Durham to a six-wicket win with remarkable haste at Chesterfield today.

The 20-year-old Esh Winning lad struck the ball powerfully in an unbeaten 93 and shared an unbroken stand of 127 in 25.1 overs with Ryan Pringle, who made 62.

Victory looked a long way off when they came together following a post-lunch wobble, which included the dismissal of skipper Paul Collingwood for five.

But with storms threatened for late afternoon on a steamy day, Burnham remorselessly cashed in after surviving three tough chances to finish the job at 3.20 to the delight of the large Durham contingent who had enjoyed four excellent days in Queen's Park.

“You get your ups and downs and today luck went my way a couple of times,” said Burnham. “I made the most of it and it was an outstanding win for the boys.

“It was a good challenge against two very good spinners on a pitch which offered a lot. But instead of sitting back and letting them bowl, we hit the bad balls and put them under pressure.

“It was a very good game and a tough four days, which went back and forth, but we stuck it out and got the win.”

Robbed of their overseas man by injury, while Derbyshire introduced Imran Tahir, Durham were due some luck as the odds seemed stacked against them when losing the toss meant they had to bat last on a pitch expected to take increasing spin.

They also had the misfortune to see what they felt was a perfectly good catch ruled out when home skipper Billy Godleman declined to walk on ten and went on to make 98.

Godleman scarcely knew where to turn towards the end, however, as the threat from his spinners was easily seen off and Durham dashed to their 282 target with a flurry of sixes.

Tahir and 16-year-old Hamidullah Qadri kept the game in the balance with two wickets each, but came under fire as Burnham capitalised on his reprieves.

Derbyshire tried the occasional off spin of Wayne Madsen and finally turned to Matt Critchley's leg breaks, but Burnham lifted him for four and six off successive balls to reach 93 with 16 still needed.

He was denied a century by Pringle taking six, four, three off the next over from Tahir then finishing it with another straight six off Critchley.

In the morning Durham were briefly in danger of losing their way after an encouraging opening hour, which saw Cameron Steel and Michael Richardson extend their opening stand from the overnight 36 to 91.

Steel made a brisk start with a couple of nice leg-side shots helping him to take nine runs off the second over, bowled by Tony Palladino.

But after seven overs of seam, Derbyshire turned to Tahir. They delayed the introduction of Qadri for a few more overs and Richardson cut his first ball for four to complete his second half-century of the match.

It came off 90 balls, but from that point runs began to dry up and Steel had added three in 33 balls when he was caught behind for 25 trying to cut Qadri.

Only four were added before Richardson departed for 62, edging Tahir to Madsen at slip. Derbyshire must have sensed more wickets in the next few overs as Graham Clark made a shaky start, but on three he relieved the pressure by lifting Qadri over mid-wicket for six.

He and Burnham then stepped on the gas and had added 50 by lunch, only for Clark to fall for 23 in the first over after the break when he edged Tahir and Madsen took a fine one-handed catch to his right at slip.

Madsen grabbed another one off Qadri to send back Collingwood, but the slip fielder missed chances offered by Burnham on six and 36.

He celebrated the second let-off by sweeping Qadri's next ball for four and on 41 he survived again when Luis Reece was unable to hang on to a powerful drive at extra cover.

After reaching 50 off 89 balls Burnham hit Madsen for six as his remaining 43 runs came off only 33 deliveries.

Three successive fours off Qadri, two of them to long-on after the fielder was brought up, brought victory in sight and the boundary blitz at the end was the perfect rehearsal for the opening NatWest T20 Blast game at home to Lancashire.