MORE feeble batting saw Durham slump to a 49-run National League defeat by Northamptonshire at Riverside yesterday.

After Friday's surrender helped the visitors to the top of the county championship's second division, Durham again squandered a good position to send Northants to another summit.

They scarcely looked worthy of such a lofty perch when, batting first on a perfectly good pitch, they were 150 for seven in the 37th over.

But what should have been a comfortable target became a testing one as Durham lost their bowling discipline and allowed Northants to reach 215 without further loss.

At 90 for three in reply, Durham were on the same mark as their visitors at the halfway stage. But they had no-one capable of matching the impressive deeds of Northants skipper Mike Hussey.

He followed his unbeaten 72 on Friday by batting through yesterday's innings for 112 not out, and the pressure created by his unbroken stand of 65 with wicketkeeper Toby Bailey was too much for Durham as they subsided to 166 all out with two overs unused.

While retaining Phil Mustard as a batsman, Durham recalled Andrew Pratt for the first time for seven weeks and surprisingly restored him to the one-day opener's role in which he made a bright start before fading two years ago.

He kept wicket immaculately, holding two catches standing up to the seamers and pulling off a quicksilver stumping off Vince Wells, but he made only one with the bat before driving tamely to extra cover.

While Durham saw off one prolific Australian left-hander, Phil Jaques, for 27, Hussey expertly held together a stuttering batting performance.

When Bailey went in a total of around 190 looked to be the limit of Northants' ambitions but he scored 31 off 32 balls and 48 came off the last five overs, including 28 off the last two.

Hussey smashed a Neil Killeen full toss over mid-wicket for his only six to reach his 119-ball century in the 44th over, then hit his 12th four to the same area.

In the last over, bowled by Shoaib Akhtar, Bailey top edged the first ball over the wicketkeeper and also pulled two slower balls to the boundary.

It left the Pakistani with the most expensive analysis of one for 48, although he gave little away in a fiery four-over burst at the start, when Hussey was mainly content to survive.

He was caught at backward point in the third over but it was off a free-hit following a Shoaib no-ball and he took few other risks as he accumulated steadily.

He looked very close to being run out on 41 in the 22nd over following a second piece of sharp fielding by Gary Pratt, who swooped from backward point to gully and hit the non-striker's stumps to get rid of the dangerous David Sales for two.

Mark Davies was the pick of the Durham bowlers, inducing an edge from Jaques to end a second wicket stand of 61 in 13 overs.

No more partnerships developed until Bailey's arrival and although Nicky Phillips tended to feed Hussey's leg-side strength Durham could be well satisfied with their work until the last five overs.

They should still have been confident of making the runs, but with 6ft 4in former Kent seamer Ben Phillips producing a good opening spell Durham were up against it.

After removing Andrew Pratt in his first over, he moved the ball away to snare Nicky Peng and Gordon Muchall from edged catches.

Wells and Gary Pratt then put on 44 with Wells being very severe on anything short, particularly from former Essex seamer Ricky Anderson.

Given his first outing in the competition this season, Anderson looked like being the weak link in the attack, but then he suddenly took two wickets and tilted an evenly-balanced contest in Northants' favour.

Wells had just pulled him viciously for four to reach his top National League score for Durham of 47 when he top edged the next ball straight to third man.

In Anderson's next over skipper Jon Lewis fished at a shortish delivery and edged to the wicketkeeper to make it 92 for five.

Three overs later Pratt sat back to cut off-spinner Graeme Swann and was bowled, then Mustard edged Anderson to the wicketkeeper.

Shoaib launched Swann for a huge six before holing out at long-off, leaving Phillips and Killeen with little more than respect to play for.

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