DURHAM found two unlikely one-day heroes in Michael Richardson and Keaton Jennings last night as they pulled off a pulsating last-ball win in the Royal London Cup tie at home to Nottinghamshire.

They won by two wickets under the Duckworth/Lewis method, reaching a revised target of 252 from 37 overs when, with nine needed, Jennings hit the last two balls for six and four.

Harry Gurney had just had Richardson caught at deep mid-wicket for a one-day best of 65 and had figures of five for 42 until a full toss was launched high over the mid-wicket rope.

Jennings then drove the final ball to the boundary between mid-off and extra cover.

Richardson displayed previously unseen one-day prowess in scoring his runs off 56 balls, while Paul Collingwood's 69 off 65 was also crucial.

Replying to Nottinghamshire's 42-over total of 274 for five, Durham raced to 32 after four overs before the fifth interruption for drizzle proved the only one they had to suffer.

With the Emirates Riverside floodlights on following the 2pm start, left-armer Gurney knocked out Mark Stoneman's middle stump with the third ball on the resumption and quickly struck twice more.

Collingwood joined Phil Mustard on 54 for three and looked capable of mounting a challenge as he dominated a stand of 74 before the wicketkeeper was lbw for 45, trying to sweep Samit Patel.

Collingwood swept to a 40-ball half-century by cutting Jake Ball for his sixth four and when Richardson pulled a Patel long hop for six Durham needed 105 off 15.

They had the target down to 62 off eight when Collingwood was superbly caught by Brendan Taylor at long-off. But Richardson kept going until three balls from the end.

Defeat was tough on Michael Lumb, who made 105 for Nottinghamshire to take his aggregate from three Royal London Cup innings to 422 at an average of 140.66.

The start was delayed for ten minutes by heavy drizzle, which returned three times inside the first 13 overs, forcing the initial reduction of eight overs a side.

Given the likelihood of these interruptions it was surprising that Nottinghamshire chose to bat when Stoneman lost the toss for the seventh successive time.

But Lumb rode the sort of luck which often accompanies a rich seam of form to reach his century off 95 balls.

Durham were well served by Chris Rushworth and Paul Coughlin, who found Lumb's edge on 24 only for the ball to narrowly evade the only slip.

There was also an edged four off Scott Borthwick on 80, but the rest of Lumb's 12 boundaries were well-timed authentic strokes ranging from drives lofted over the off-side to pulls guided into space behind square.

Rushworth's tight opening spell resulted in Riki Wessels losing patience when he swung round a full-length ball and was bowled for ten.

But Greg Smith contributed 46 to a stand of 118 before he got an inside edge into his stumps off Usman Arshad.

The second-wicket pair had just switched into overdrive with the total on 124 after 25 overs, taking 25 off the next two from spin pair Borthwick and Ryan Pringle.

Despite Lumb following five overs later, bowled when hitting across a ball from Coughlin which hit leg and middle, the momentum was sustained.

It reached a crescendo with 48 coming off the last four overs. Samit Patel took 18 off the first five balls of Rushworth's last over, including a straight six, before driving the sixth to extra cover, where Stoneman dived to hold an excellent catch.

Patel made 40 off 25 balls and visiting skipper Dan Christian, the Australian one-day international, reached 57 off 43 before being run out off the last ball of the innings.

He survived a difficult chance to deep mid-wicket on 36 off the luckless Coughlin, who then suffered the same treatment as Rushworth as 18 came off his final over.

On recent form it looked to have taken the total beyond Durham's reach. And it still looked that way with two balls left. But Jennings had the answer.