THERE cannot be a batsman in the country with a greater liking for the Durham attack than Riki Wessels.

The Nottinghamshire batsman last night left the Jets' hopes of NatWest T20 Blast progress firmly grounded with a superb blend of power and improvisation.

His 97 off 51 balls, including five sixes, propelled the Outlaws to 198 for five, to which Durham replied with 156 for six.

They made a spirited start, racing to 39 in 3.4 overs before Phil Mustard lofted a catch to long-on after making 25 off 14 balls.

Graham Clark then faced three dot balls before giving himself room to drive through the off-side, only to lose his leg stump to Jake Ball and the innings swiftly declined.

Durham opted to bat second under the floodlights, but Wessels put the lights out on their quarter-final chances.

He made 117 and 42 not out in Nottinghamshire's championship defeat at Riverside this season and 67 in the Outlaws' T20 win at Trent Bridge.

Last night he drove three sixes over long-on in scorching to 50 off 26 balls and added two more before top-edging an attempted sweep to be caught by Mustard with nine balls left.

Durham opted for an orthodox approach by opening up with John Hastings and Chris Rushworth.

After being restricted to ten runs off the first two overs, Alex Hales tried to lift a straight ball from Hastings over the mid-wicket boundary, where Scott Borthwick ran ten yards to his left to hold an excellent catch.

But that merely brought in Wessels, who greeted Usman Arshad's first ball in the fifth over by fetching it powerfully through mid-wicket from outside off stump.

The over cost 13 then Wessels drove Rushworth for six as the next over yielded 16 to take the Outlaws to 54 for one after the six powerplay overs.

Two tight overs followed, but the ninth had already cost 11, including another six over long-on by Wessels, when Borthwick ran in from the cover boundary to hold another good catch to send back Michael Lumb for 31.

Samit Patel made only four before upper cutting a short ball from Rushworth to be caught by Arshad at third man.

But off the two remaining balls of the over Wessels cut a four then drove his third six to reach 50.

With Ryan Pringle proving very hard to get away, his first three overs costing only 14, Durham turned to Borthwick. But Wessels mixed slog/sweeps with reverse sweeps as 24 came off the leg-spinner's two overs.

Arshad was driven for two more sixes before moving further ahead as Durham's leading wicket-taker in the competition when he took two in two balls.

James Taylor managed to get to the other end while Wessels' skied shot was in the air, but he spooned the next ball straight to deep backward square, In making 37 of 22 balls, however, he had helped to put the game beyond Durham in a stand of 98 in eight overs.

Even then the momentum didn't drop as Hastings conceded 14 to his Victoria team-mate Dan Christian in the final over.

Momentum was something Durham didn't have after Mustard's exit. Mark Stoneman and Paul Collingwood, who was unable to find the boundary in making 24 off 26 balls, both holed out off the gentle medium pace of Steve Mullaney.

Michael Richardson, a strange choice at No 5, made only six as Durham slid to 89 for five in the 14th over before Hastings, the only man who could win it, went in when it was too late.

Scoring 110 off 6.3 overs was an impossible task, but just to show what might have been Hastings blasted 42 as he and Gordon Muchall added 62.

They provided some late entertainment for the crowd of 4,574, but after this disappointing campaign Durham will look more seriously at bringing in a second overseas player next year.