FOUR wickets from Matt Taylor helped Gloucestershire earn their second win of the Specsavers County Championship against Durham yesterday.

Taylor finished with four from 31 from 16 overs as Gloucestershire claimed a 41 run victory.

Durham were bowled out for 298, chasing 340. They made a promising start with openers Cameron Steel and Tom Latham hitting 62 and 45 runs respectively.

Mark Wood also had an unbeaten 61 but it wasn't enough as the bowling form of Taylor and Ryan Higgins and Craig Miles proved too much.

Taylor took out Latham with Durham's opening stand at 94. The total climbed to 121-1 before Steel was dismissed for LBW which spelled the beginning of the end for Durham.

Higgins then removed Graham Clark for 30 and Will Smith for 32 during a six-over spell that brought him two for 23.

Taylor was equally impressive and claimed the key wicket of England all rounder Ben Stokes, who moved to just nine before being bowled on the back foot.

Stuart Poynter suffered the same fate on eight, and Durham still required 139 with six players out.

Wood's brilliant innings gave them hope, him and Michael Richardson helped Durham reach 226 for six.

Wood was dropped on 18 by Miles Hammond at cover off Kieran Noema-Barnett and responded by hitting 4 fours in an over from Miles just before the second new ball.

Richardson had helped add 59 when falling lbw for 26 looking to work Miles through the leg-side. Soon it was 267 for eight as Matt Salisbury was bowled on the back-foot by Miles for a single.

Wood was batting, Durham had a chance but he was running out of partners when George Harding chipped a tame catch to mid-wicket off Taylor and departed for seven.

Eventually, Higgins claimed his third wicket when Chris Rushworth was caught behind and the game was won with 11 overs left to play.

Gloucestershire seamer Taylor said: "At the start of the day we talked about the game possibly going into the final hour and the need to stay patient if that happened.

"I felt we did that. It was a tough day and we eventually got our rewards. I was just looking to run in and hit the pitch hard on the right length. It was nice to get Ben Stokes out because that was a key wicket for us.

"Over the four days all the bowlers contributed. Ryan Higgins has been an outstanding signing for us, but the wickets were shared around and in both games here there have been some great partnerships from our top order batsmen.

"To beat one strong side and run another close has been a good effort. The Sussex game went against us in the end, but we wanted to bounce back quickly and that's what happened."