DURHAM’S cricketers gave the northeast’s sporting pride a much-needed boost yesterday when they clinched their first LV county championship title just 16 years after their first-class elevation.

Since 1890, the only county admitted to the championship to have won the title so quickly has been Warwickshire, champions in 1911 after joining in 1895 - the same number of years Durham have taken to rise to the top. Somerset, strong contenders this year, Gloucestershire and Northamptonshire have still never been champions.

Durham had wrapped up an innings victory over Kent at Canterbury by 11.40am yesterday, their star performer Steve Harmison finishing the match with three wickets in four balls. He was supported by fellow fast bowler Callum Thorp, who claimed the first seven victims in the Kent second innings. Kent’s defeat means that they join Surrey in being relegated. Warwickshire and Worcestershire are promoted to Division One.

Harmison had to wait until nearly 4pm for news that Nottinghamshire had lost at home to Hampshire in a game Notts had to win to deny Durham. By that time Durham were already on the coach home. They will receive the championship trophy and winners’ cheque of £100,000 at an end-of-season dinner tomorrow.

Harmison, below, was overjoyed. “This is my 12th season at this county and I’ve had more bad years than good,” he said. “There are some young lads [in the team] who don’t realise what sort of achievement this is. It was only with Durham’s help that I got back into the England team, so I wanted to come back and play for them. I was determined to win the championship because potentially I may not play for them much next year. The Ashes in 2005 takes some beating but after that there is no prouder moment in my career.” Harmison, who broke his left wrist against Kent, added that he expected to be fit for England’s $20m match against Sir Allen Stanford’s All Stars on November 1.

Durham County Cricket Club was formed in 1882 but not until 1992 was it deemed worthy of inclusion among the professional clubs. For six years Durham never finished higher than the bottom three in the table. In 1996 they did not win a match in the county championship. But the club pursued a policy of long-term investment that gradually bore fruit. The team started providing quality players for England such as Harmison and Paul Collingwood. “Geoff Cook [the coach] has been the real heart and soul of the club and a lot of the success is due to his efforts,” captain Dale Benkenstein said. “We’re the end product of a lot of hard work.”

Geoff Miller, the national selector, confirmed yesterday that Michael Vaughan would not be chosen for England’s Test tour of India in December because on recent form a place for him “cannot be justified”.