As a result of Leicestershire’s failure to earn any batting bonus points against Sussex, they are no longer able to surpass Durham’s current points total of 198.

To win Division Two, the north-east county needs a maximum of five points from its last two matches.

Since 2016, Durham have been in Division Two due to financial problems.

Hampshire, who finished eighth that season, was given a reprieve by the England and Wales Cricket Board, while Durham were also docked 48 points.

Head coach Ryan Campbell is already looking ahead to next season’s challenge of re-establishing Durham in the top tier.

“We can only take this team where we think it belongs, and I am extremely proud of where this club is now,” Campbell told Look North.

“We’re not going to Division One just to survive, we’re going to try and win the thing [title], I think there will be a lot more exciting cricket ahead.” Under Sunderland-born captain Scott Borthwick, who is in his second spell with the club, Durham have won six of their 12 Championship games so far this season.

With 1,281 runs, including five centuries, Alex Lees is the highest-scoring batter in the country, and Matthew Potts and Ben Raine each have 51 Championship wickets.

This team has been hard at work for a long time, I came at the right time,” Campbell said.

Having grown up with some great mentors, we knew what kind of style we wanted to play. To get the guys to buy into it was going to be a challenge, but thankfully they just embraced it.”.

We’ve seen a group of talented blokes go about their business with the bat but also with the ball.”