DERBYSHIRE'S woeful lack of support for Tillakeratne Dilshan allowed Durham to pull off an unlikely win at Derby last night.

They scraped home by five runs to improve their record to four wins and two defeats in the NatWest T20 Blast as the hosts imploded when they looked to be cruising home.

Derbyshire needed 42 off seven overs with eight wickets standing, but they stumbled badly and lost four wickets while adding only eight runs in the last two overs to finish on 142 for nine.

Dilshan appeared to be slowed down by a back injury suffered when trying to hit a ball from Ben Stokes which bounced twice and after reaching 50 off 49 balls his only remaining stroke was his trademark Dilscoop.

It brought him four off John Hastings, but he top-edged the next ball to be caught at short third man and Hastings took two more wickets in the 19th over while conceding only three runs.

Usman Arshad, entrusted with the final over in preference to Stokes, also picked up two wickets, but it was Scott Borthwick's two for 22 which really got Durham back into the game.

It was not a great night for Stokes in his first appearance of the season for Durham as he was out for 19 then conceded 14 off his first over.

After taking 24 off the first two overs when they were put in, Durham fell short of expectations by struggling to 147 for seven.

When Paul Collingwood hit the first ball of the 11th over to the boundary it was the tenth four of the innings, but it was a further 27 balls before they added another.

In fact, Collingwood was the only batsman to find the boundary in the second half of the innings, hitting five fours in top-scoring with 41 off 31 balls.

The last one was a reverse paddle to third man as he improvised to counter Derbyshire's policy of cutting off his favourite leg-side shots.

Durham gambled by handing a senior debut to Graham Clark and sending him at No 3, even though he has not been in great form for the second team.

The Cumbrian replaced Keaton Jennings and was off the mark first ball with a leg glance for a single then confidently drove a four off the third ball he faced.

Clark was then bowled when swinging across a straight ball from former Leicestershire medium pacer Shiv Thakor.

That brought in Ben Stokes at 44 for two in the sixth over and he began by playing out the three remaining balls of Thakor's over.

A reverse sweep for four and a pulled six off Wayne White promised much, but Stokes failed to capitalise on surviving a very tight run-out scare on six.

He fell for 19 after trying to pull his second six to the longest boundary into the wind, only to hit it straight to Tom Knight at long-on.

That left the Sri Lankan all-rounder, Dilshan, with two for 28 from four overs of off-spin after he had conceded 11 in the first over of the match, when Phil Mustard hit him for two fours.

The wicketkeeper added two more boundaries in reaching 20 off 15 balls before he was bowled attempting a big drive off Derbyshire's Australian debutant Nathan Rimmington.

One-day skipper Mark Stoneman grew frustrated with his lack of timing and after almost running out Stokes his run-a-ball innings of 28 ended when he was lbw trying to reverse sweep Dilshan.

With Gordon Muchall making 15 off 18 balls before driving another catch to Knight, there was again insufficient time for Hastings to make an impact.

Going to the crease in the 18th over, he faced six balls and was unbeaten on seven, then had to suffer some rough treatment from Dilshan.

The Derbyshire openers had 24 on the board from three overs before Stokes came on and Wes Durston pulled his first ball for four and drove the second wide of mid-off.

The fourth delivery was a no-ball before Durston set off for a single to backward point and couldn't get back before Collingwood threw down the stumps.

But it brought no respite for Durham as Chesney Hughes hit the last ball of the over for four then Dilshan picked up Hastings for four and six off the first two balls of the fifth.

At 70 for one after seven Borthwick was handed his first bowl for some time and saw his first ball swept for four by Hughes before bowling him with the second.

The sight of the relatively unknown Scott Elstone coming in at No 4 underlined Derbyshire's lack of depth and when Borthwick had him caught in the deep for 13 there was no support left for Dilshan. His exit effectively signalled the end.