Hampshire 251 (Ervine 47, Hastings 4-49, Onions 4-61) and 166 for 3 (Vince 76*) beat Durham 213 (Pringle 99, McLaren 4-60) and 200 (Edwards 4-43, McLaren 3-54) by seven wickets
Scorecard
Hampshire climbed off the foot of the Division One table and now face a crucial match at Taunton starting on Wednesday. A seven-wicket win against Durham at Chester-le-Street left them only five points behind Somerset in the battle to avoid the second relegation spot.
Captain James Vince knuckled down to survive a testing start and waited for the right ball to put away in guiding Hampshire to their target of 163 with an unbeaten 76. He was helped by Liam Dawson, who contributed 34 to the unbroken stand of 82 as the last 64 runs came off 6.3 overs.
Hampshire might have to seek their third successive win without Fidel Edwards, however, after he retired with a hamstring injury after taking 4 for 43.
Rain prevented play before lunch and Durham didn't hang around when they resumed their second innings on 126 for 6, 88 ahead, adding 74 in 15.3 overs before they were all out for 200.
Gareth Berg took two wickets in two balls in the fourth over, having Ryan Pringle caught behind for 13 and John Hastings lbw. Umpire Jeremy Lloyds took several seconds to give the second decision.
Left-hander James Weighell hit two fours off Ryan McLaren in reaching 20 before Edwards came on and yorked him with his first ball. The West Indian retired after bowling eight balls, although his exit did allow Ryan Stevenson to claim his maiden first-class wicket. He had Graham Onions caught at point by Jimmy Adams, ending a last-wicket stand of 36 in 28 balls.
Chris Rushworth made an unbeaten 33 off 34 balls, hooking and driving Berg for two sixes prior to trying to add to his 85 first-class wickets this season.
He had to wait until the 12th over, when Michael Carberry was on 21 and there had been 11 extras, before Adams shouldered arms and was bowled for 3.
Rushworth also troubled Vince but the total advanced to 75 before Carberry fell for 39 when he skied a pull off Onions and Michael Richardson ran 25 yards to hold a tumbling catch at square leg. The wicketkeeper then held a regulation catch off Onions to send back Will Smith for 1, but the new-ball pair had bowled 11 overs each by that stage.
Onions kept going for two more overs but was clearly flagging in his 13th, and the double change took the pressure off. After conceding only one run in his first two overs, Hastings' next two cost 19. Weighell opened up with a maiden and was hit for three fours in his second over, one off a thick edge, as Vince passed 50 off 54 balls with 11 boundaries.
Weighell wasn't helped by four overthrows in his next over, which cost nine, and when Rushworth returned Dawson pulled him for six as Durham slumped meekly to their fourth successive home defeat.
