Durham can't take the heat in Derby defeat

Again they wilted in glorious weather, taking up where they left off at Arundel on Sunday in losing their opening Twenty20 Cup match at Derby by six wickets last night.

With Australian Jon Moss thrashing 46 off 28 balls and English-qualified South African James Bryant batting through for 52 not out, the hosts took swift revenge for being dismissed for 82 on a Riverside pitch they complained about after last week's totesport match.

They eased home with 14 balls to spare and as Durham will not meet weaker opponents in this event their chances of progressing beyond the group stage look slim.

Durham had to rely on some proper batting from Gordon Muchall to muster what should have been a competitive total.

After the three big-hitters at the top of the order all went quickly, it was left to Muchall to hold the innings together with 46 out of 130 for seven.

On a slow, green pitch not exactly tailor-made for the fast scoring the competition is designed to promote, it might have been enough had Durham fielded a strong attack.

Neil Killeen struck a huge blow with the second ball of Derbyshire's reply, when left-hander Michael di Venuto shaped to pull and dragged the ball into his leg stump.

But with Mark Turner's in-swing drifting down the leg side the second over cost 13, with two wides plus a pulled six and a leg glance for four by Moss.

Once 12 had come off Turner's second over and ten off Liam Plunkett's first, Derbyshire were 50 for one, 20 ahead of Durham at the five-over stage, and were able to coast to victory.

The captains rode out to toss up on the back of Harley Davidsons, but if the close-cropped Dale Benkenstein was feeling as laid-back as Peter Fonda in Easy Rider it didn't help him call correctly.

Durham were put in and a Derbyshire team containing eight bowlers proceeded to change the bowling for each of the first four overs. Kevin Dean, who bowled the first, returned for the fifth and when Phil Mustard drove him to mid-off Durham were 29 for two with their two most likely match-winners gone.

Nathan Astle began by driving Dean's third ball to the cover boundary and in the third over he smashed Mo Sheikh over long-on for a huge six.

But two balls later he was caught in two minds and offered a return catch, which stuck in Sheikh's left hand.

The only other stroke of note in the early overs was an on-drive for four by Nicky Peng off Tom Lungley in the fourth over. He was lucky to get away with a leading edge just wide of mid-off from the next ball, but fell for 14 to the first ball of the seventh over.

He was stumped by Luke Sutton off a leg-side wide, which Dean followed with six dot balls to Benkenstein.

The Durham captain slogged the first ball of the left-armer's last over to cow corner for four to the strains of "We will rock you", although Durham were not threatening to rock anyone.

Judging by the gridlock on the A38, all the Derby traffic seemed to be heading away from the ground prior to the 5.30 start, but a crowd of 3,000 rolled up for the usual sideshows, which included a fortune teller.

She would have been unlikely to predict Durham making a big impact in the competition given that they decided to rest Ashley Noffke and Mark Davies, while also leaving out Graeme Bridge to accommodate both Turner and Plunkett.

It became 64 for four in the 11th over when Benkenstein thrust his pad well forward in trying to sweep the sixth bowler, left-arm spinner Ant Botha, and was adjudged lbw by Tim Robinson.

The seventh bowler used was Australian Andy Gray, the former Yorkshire off-spinner, who included two wides in conceding nine off the 12th over.

He was left on and when Gary Pratt lofted him over extra cover it was only the seventh boundary in the 14th over. Two balls later he went down the pitch and was stumped.

Derbyshire decided to stick with their spinners and Gareth Breese had his off stump clipped when he was bamboozled by a well-flighted ball from Botha, who conceded only three runs in the 15th over.

Man of the Match in Derbyshire's C & G win at Riverside this season, Botha finished with two for 16 in his four overs.

Muchall brought up the 100 with a straight drive for four off Gray in the 18th over and repeated it off the next ball.

Former Durham man Ian Hunter returned for his third over, having bowled the second and eighth, and Muchall drove him for a straight six, with ten coming off the over.

Gary Scott had contributed ten to the best stand of the innings - 35 in five overs - when Muchall lofted the second ball of the final over, a much slower ball by Sheikh, into the hands of long-off.

Scott added two more singles, while Plunkett's seven not out included a six over long-on off the last ball.

Durham batted first in their first four Twenty20 matches last season and three times they failed to top 120, so this could be seen as an improvement.

But while other sides have decided spin has a big part to play in this competition, Derbyshire were 98 for two after 13 overs before Durham turned to Breese. He conceded nine and was removed.

The most effective bowler was Astle, with two for 14 in his four overs. His first ball removed Moss, who dragged a forcing back-foot shot into his stumps after hitting six fours and two sixes.

Astle also had Sutton lbw playing across the line, while the fourth wicket fell to Scott, whose off-spin was introduced when only 11 were needed off four overs.

It was rather brainless of Graeme Welch to drive Scott's first ball to long-on, but nine came off the over and Botha paddled Plunkett for the winning four.

Read more about Durham here.