DURHAM survived a mid-innings shambles, including three run-outs, to beat Derbyshire by 55 runs and must now rely on Yorkshire to see off the Northamptonshire threat in today's final Royal London Cup group games.

Yorkshire need to win at Headingley to have a chance of a home quarter-final and if they were to lose heavily they could even surrender fourth place to Durham on run-rate.

Both neighbours are on nine points with Northants one behind and the poverty of the rest of the group was underlined yesterday by Derbyshire's failure to press home a distinct advantage.

Their fielding was razor sharp as Durham limped to 182 for eight in the 41st over, but it fell apart as Chris Rushworth was dropped three times in making his one-day best of 38 not out off 32 balls.

His unbroken stand of 65 with Gordon Muchall took Durham to 247 for eight and after the last five overs yielded 49 runs the shift in momentum saw Derbyshire slip to 71 for four.

At that point their lack of depth meant their only hope was a substantial innings from Wayne Madsen. He reached 50 off 62 balls, but couldn't do it all and fell for 77 as the visitors were dismissed for 192 with 19 balls unused.

John Hastings, who took four for 24, said: “It was quite a tricky pitch to hit boundaries on so we just had to keep our discipline and make them go looking for runs.

“It was one of our better performances in the field, which showed our desperation. It's what we did last year when we had to win our last two games to get through.

“We are a good side and deserve to progress, but it's out of our hands now.”

After being put in on a sunny morning, Durham squandered a good start, not helped by three run-outs, before being revived by Rushworth's flourish.

Michael Richardson, a surprise inclusion, was involved in two of the run-outs but achieved the rare feat of reaching 50 without hitting a boundary.

He then launched one to long-on, but the need to accelerate at the start of the last ten overs saw him chop a ball from seamer Ben Cotton into his stumps.

While Richardson top-scored with 56 off 77 balls, Muchall batted in similar vein to reach 43 off 54 without finding the boundary.

Rushworth hit two sixes, spoiling the figures of 19-year-old leg-spinner Matt Critchley, who had Paul Collingwood stumped off one which turned sharply and deserved better than one for 57.

He should have had Rushworth caught at deep mid-wicket on nine, but Billy Godleman misjudged it and the batsman celebrated with a straight six.

He also cleared the rope via Scott Elstone's hands at deep mid-wicket and inbetween survived a steepling return catch to Mark Footitt.

Durham would have had their sights on 300 when Mark Stoneman square drove Shiv Thakor's first ball for four to reach 26 out of 44 in the eighth over.

It proved to be the last four for 18 overs after Stoneman departed two balls later without addition, pulling the medium pacer to short mid-wicket.

After contributing to the sprightly start, Phil Mustard was becalmed as Scott Borthwick scored the next nine runs, only to be run out by a brilliant stop and direct hit from Footitt at backward square leg.

When Mustard drove Wes Durston's innocuous off-spin straight to short extra cover to depart for 17 Durham had slipped to 69 for three.

Richardson and Collingwood rebuilt the innings through ones and twos until Collingwood finally lofted a straight four in Thakor's final over then hit another off Alex Hughes.

But after contributing 33 to the stand of 57 he went down the pitch and was stumped. Critchley continued to bowl impressively, achieving dip as well as turn.

Durham's gamble on selecting Calum MacLeod to bat at six failed when he was run out for two. His uncertainty in answering Richardson's call for a sharp single to mid-on saw him fail to beat Madsen's direct hit.

Ryan Pringle hit two fours before advancing fatally from the non-striker's end when Richardson drove to cover.

Any chance of a late onslaught seemed to have gone when Hastings went for a duck, giving Footitt a gentle return catch. But Rushworth rode his luck to carry Durham to a healthy total.

The reply began steadily but with the score on 33 in the ninth over Godleman was bowled through the gate trying to drive Graham Onions.

A probing six-over spell by Hastings further undermined Derbyshire as he nipped one through Tillakaratne Dilshan's forward push to take out off and middle then persuaded Thakor to glove a hook to wicketkeeper Richardson.

Three wickets had gone down for three runs when Durston fell for 38, edging Borthwick to Collingwood at slip.

Elstone and Hughes helped Madsen for a while, but the required rate kept rising and both surrendered to Collingwood. It was as good as over when Madsen edged a cut off Hastings to be caught behind.