Pratt guides Durham to table-topping victory

An unbeaten 42 from wicketkeeper Andrew Pratt guided Durham to a four-wicket win at Derby and kept them on top of Division Two of the National League.

Pratt worked the ball around intelligently on a slow pitch to record his best one-day score and Michael Gough also batted well in a match winning sixth wicket stand of 65 in 11 overs.

Derbyshire were handicapped by a rib injury to Paul Aldred which prevented the seamer bowling and had to fill in nine overs with the occasional spin of Rob Bailey and Michael Di Venuto.

But it was still a tight contest and Durham had only three balls to spare when Ian Hunter hit Richard Illingworth over mid off for the winning runs.

The wicket restricted all the batsmen with the exception of Di Venuto who made 71 from 95 balls but a middle order collapse in which three wickets fell in six balls shattered Derbyshire.

It needed an eighth wicket stand of 36 in 6 overs between Karl Krikken and Illingworth to get the home side up to 179-7 but when Graeme Welch removed Nicky Peng and Danny Law, Durham were in trouble at 11-2 in seven overs.

Martin Love and Martin Speight took the score to 58 before Tom Lungley had Speight taken at deep backward square and the seamer then moved one away to bowl Love for 39.

When Jon Lewis drove a full toss back to Illingworth, Durham were 107-5 in the 33rd over but Pratt and Gough found the gaps to swing the game back to Durham.

Although Tim Munton bowled Gough for 35 in the penultimate over, only five were needed off the last and Pratt removed any doubts by driving the first ball for three before Hunter completed the formalities.