DURHAM fell just short in trying to find a belated answer to the Twenty20 expertise of cup holders Leicestershire as they suffered a three-run defeat at Grace Road yesterday.

The value of spin in this form of the game was again underlined as Durham's reply to 150 for nine was throttled by Jeremy Snape and Claude Henderson, with a little help from Dinesh Mongia.

At 74 for three after 13 overs they were 33 behind Leicestershire at the equivalent stage and had little chance of catching up once off-spinner Snape took the second of his three wickets by removing Dale Benkenstein.

Despite the best efforts of Gordon Muchall, who was again top scorer with 38 not out, Durham finished on 147 for five and have lost both their first two matches.

They had a chance while Nathan Astle was making 37 off 32 balls with eight fours, but he cut left-armer Henderson to cover two balls after Phil Mustard was snared by Snape and that effectively put paid to Durham's hopes.

They were almost revived by Gareth Breese, who went in with 28 needed off ten balls and hit the first two balls he faced for four.

Snape had three for 13 in 3.2 overs prior to that, but with 11 coming off his last four balls the target off the last over, bowled by Ottis Gibson, was 16 to tie.

Four leg byes off the second ball helped, but it came down to Muchall needing to hit the last ball for six and a straight drive produced only two.

The features of Durham's performance in the field were a tight spell by acting captain Benkenstein, who took two for 17 in his four overs in the middle of the innings, and two catches and a run-out for Gary Scott.

Durham drafted in Graham Onions for his first appearance of the season after a broken hand and he bowled the first over after Leicestershire were put in.

Home skipper Hylton Ackerman hit the first ball for four, but after three singles followed Onions had Darren Maddy caught behind by Mustard off the last ball of the over. It was a big scalp as Maddy is one of the few people to have scored a century in this competition.

Onions, who did well in last season's Twenty20, continued to impress as only one run came off the first four balls of the third over.

Ackerman then hit the second of his nine fours and reached 30 out of the first 35 runs as he took two fours off the sixth over, bowled by Killeen, which cost 16 runs, including four leg byes.

Mongia, the Indian all-rounder, brought up the 50 in the seventh over with a four off Onions, but was run out by Scott's direct hit from mid-off for 13 in the next over.

Yorkshireman John Sadler then contributed 23 to a stand of 35 in four overs, with 14 coming off the 11th, bowled by Astle.

Sadler became the first of Benkenstein's victims when Scott ran in and dived forward to hold a superb catch at long-off

Former England one-day player Snape helped Ackerman add 17 in two overs before both fell with the total on 111.

Ackerman was unluckily run out for 56, made off 40 balls, when Snape drove a return chance, which Benkenstein deflected on to the non-striker's stumps with his fellow South African stranded.

Snape clipped Benkenstein to Breese at mid-wicket, but at 115 for five with five overs left, it seemed Leicestershire could still post a daunting total when West Indian Ottis Gibson hit Breese's first two balls for six.

One sailed over long-off, the other was slogged over mid-wicket, but Gibson fell for 18 in the next over when he went for a leg-side heave off Astle and sliced to Scott at third man.

After that the last 21 balls of the innings produced only 14 runs. Four of those came from the first four balls of the 18th over, bowled by Breese, but then desperation set in as John Maunders and Paul Nixon fell to the last two balls.

An attempted cut by Nixon fell at his feet and when Maunders set off from the other end Mustard under-armed the ball and hit the stumps to run him out.

Then Nixon went down the pitch and was beaten by the turn, to be stumped by Mustard.

With eight balls left Henderson drove Killeen to Liam Plunkett at long-off, leaving David Masters and Charl Willoughby to scrape four runs off Breese's final over.

After conceding 12 off his first two balls, Breese finished with one for 24 in three overs and also left the impression that he might have conjured an unlikely win had he gone in to bat a little earlier.

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