MUCH more of this and Andrew Pratt will be in the frame to join England's one-day squad in Zimbabwe in October.

England have little idea where to turn for a successor to Alec Stewart and after proving his pedigree with the gloves Pratt is now blossoming as a batsman.

The 26-year-old Crook left-hander made a career-best score for the second time in three days yesterday, launching Durham towards a comfortable win against Derbyshire at the Riverside.

Following his first-class best of 68 not out against the same opponents on Friday, he thrashed 86 off 72 balls as Durham made 269 for eight.

They won by 33 runs under the Duckworth/Lewis method to move into second place in the Norwich Union League second division ahead of Wednesday's crucial floodlit game against Hampshire, who lost to Glamorgan yesterday.

A few minutes of lunacy had to be endured before Durham's win was belatedly confirmed with Derbyshire on 134 for five after 29.5 overs.

Play had been suspended for an hour because of rain when it was announced that the match would resume at 7.10 with Derbyshire needing 56 off 13 balls.

A few more spots of rain fall and at 7.02 common sense prevailed.

There was also a one-day best from Stephen Harmison, who marked his return from illness with a fast and largely accurate spell to claim three for 31.

Pratt's previous one-day best was 42 not out at Derby this season. He was sent in as a pinch-hitting opener for the first time in the last NUL match at Worcester and contributed 36 to a stand of 102 with Nicky Peng.

This time Pratt was the dominant partner as they put on 126 before Peng fell for 50, skying a catch to deep square leg in the 19th over.

Had Durham not been tied down by spin between the 20th and 40th overs, when only 75 were added, they would have beaten their record score in the one-day league of 281 for two.

They had to settle for their highest 45-over score at the Riverside, thanks to 61 coming off the last five overs.

In taking full advantage of the fielding restrictions in the first 15 overs, the openers matched their marvellous efforts in the floodlit match at Worcester in reaching 96 at that point.

They were helped by young left-arm spinner Lian Wharton having a nightmare in the field. The first of Pratt's 13 fours came when he ran the ball to third man and Wharton inexplicably lost sight of it, running to his left instead of his right.

He later fielded a ball just inside the boundary then dropped it over the rope and became the subject of much merriment when he let another four through his grasp.

Wharton was chiefly responsible, however, for throttling the middle of Durham's innings, varying his flight nicely as he took three for 23 in his nine overs.

Pratt fell exactly as he had at Worcester when Graeme Hick came on, trying to run the spinner to third man and edging to the wicketkeeper.

Against the seamers he had firmly put away anything short on either side of the wicket and he made 36 of the first 50 runs.

Both batsmen had nine fours in their half-centuries but Pratt got there off only 42 balls, 16 faster than Peng.

Both were severe on left-armer Kevin Dean while Alex Edwards, a medium pacer, came in for even harsher punishment.

With both Dominic Cork and Michael Di Venuto injured, Derbyshire were captained by former Northants skipper Rob Bailey and on seeing Wharton's success he introduced his own off-spin.

Martin Love took nine off his first over, but only 22 came off his next seven before Jimmy Daley collected 14 off his last at the start of the final onslaught.

Both Love and Paul Collingwood, who faced 23 balls for nine, fell trying to sweep Wharton, given out lbw by former Lancashire bowler Ken Shuttleworth, who was brought in from the first-class umpires' reserve list.

Jon Lewis was also a little becalmed in making 21, but in trying to break loose on Edwards' return he top edged to the wicketkeeper.

The only Derbyshire batsman who looked like making a serious dent in the target was Chris Bassano. He hit James Brinkley's first three balls for four, but after making 32 he had his off stump rattled in Mark Davies' first over.