FRIENDS PROVIDENT t20, New Road:
Durham 144-6 (20 ovs) bt Worcestershire 141-8 (20 ovs) by three runs
Match scorecard

Worcestershire threw away a strong chance of recording a fourth straight FP t20 win as Durham ended their five-match losing streak at New Road.

Chasing Durham's modest total of 144-6, the home side were 51-0 in the sixth over, only to collapse to 67-4.

Sanath Jayasuriya made a quick 45 but after he fell lbw to Gareth Breese and Ben Harmison undid Vikram Solanki (25), the home side fell short on 141-8.

Debutant Mark Stoneman (46) and Ben Stokes (44) provided Durham's backbone.

Victory for Durham, their first in six matches, keeps their hopes of qualification alive.

They have climbed a place to sixth in the North Group table, just a point behind fourth-placed Derbyshire, but have played one more game.

Durham looked in danger when Jayasuriya launched the Worcestershire innings with 45 from 29 balls, but Breese took 3-14 as they fell just short.

Jayasuriya was in irresistible form, highlighted by a 4-6-6 sequence from Albie Morkel's first three deliveries. But Breese turned the game on its head with a stunning intervention.

The unsung all-rounder held a simple catch at cover from Phil Jaques and then dismissed Jayasuriya and Moeen Ali in his first over.

Breese followed up by removing Alexei Kervezee and the off-spinner had figures of three for eight until Vikram Solanki straight drove his last ball for six.

Although Solanki kept up the chase with 25 in his first FP t20 appearance in a month after a pelvic injury, Worcestershire slipped out of contention when he was caught at deep cover off Ben Harmison.

Eventually they needed 14 from the final over and fell tantalisingly short when Imran Arif could only manage four and two from the last two balls.

Durham's struggle to get to grips with the shorter game has been one of the mysteries of the season.

It is now six games since any batsman made a half-century and they have failed to reach 150 in four of the last five games.

BBC Radio Newcastle's Martin Emmerson offers his post-match verdict:

"It seems an awful long time since Durham won a game in the FP t20.

"Five straight losses had seen them slip from potential group winners to bottom in the space of just two weeks. And another defeat would have seen the Twenty20 gone for another year.

"Well done to Mark Stoneman. He's waited three years for his chance to play in the shortest form of the game and proved an able replacement for Ian Blackwell with his 46.

"Gareth Breese was on form with the ball as well. At one point he'd taken 3-5 in three overs, before eventually going for a further nine runs in his last over."

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