FRIENDS PROVIDENT t20, Emirates Ground:
No result - rain. Durham 110-2 (13 ovs) v Derbyshire
1pt each
Match scorecard

Derbyshire's hopes of reaching the last eight of the Friends Provident t20 were boosted by their clash with Durham at Chester-le-Street being rained off.

Only 13 overs were possible before the weather intervened, during which time Durham captain Phil Mustard smashed 70 off 39 balls as his side reached 110-2.

Derbyshire's point from the no result consolidated their grip on fourth place in the North Group with two games left.

Durham's lifted them off the bottom but with little chance of qualifying.

Last month's clash between the sides at Derby was also rained off, with Mustard's 70 - his highest score in Twenty20 cricket and which included two sixes and six boundaries - the highlight of this curtailed contest.

And although it ultimately did nothing to enhance his side's already slim hopes of reaching the quarter-finals, Derbyshire's bid remains very much alive as they round off their campaign with home matches against two rivals for a top-four spot, Northants and Yorkshire.

BBC Newcastle's Martin Emmerson reflects on Durham's Twenty20 struggles:
"Durham may blame the rain for robbing them of the chance to get this match to a conclusion but the weather is not the reason they have failed to impress in this season's T20 competition.

"In it's new, longer format, Durham reverted to the team of old in the T20. The side appeared on too many occasions to struggle with the tight format once again. They were exposed by the good teams and too many average ones as well.

606: DEBATE We can't be too annoyed about the game being called off because the damage was done earlier in the competition captaincolly

"Who knows? Their controversial defeat by Notts here on 23 June - and the Alex Hales catch that shouldn't have been - may just have proved the most significant moment of the campaign.

"While Notts went on to dominate the group from that point, Durham fell apart, losing five games in a row as their hopes of qualification disappeared in a run of cricket which did little to promote the shortest form of the game.

"Once again too many batsmen were found wanting and in the end, even with a glimmer of hope following the belated win against Worcestershire, it was to prove too much of a mountain for Geoff Cook's players to climb.

"They can now concentrate on the Championship instead. But they need a far better end to the season in the four-day game than they had in the opening months otherwise there is a big danger this season of promise could end up delivering nothing but a very nervous conclusion."

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