NO matter what happened last night, Durham were through to

the quarter-finals of the Twenty20 Cup and Derbyshire were out

but that did not stop it being the most competitive match of

the campaign at the County Ground.

It ended in a seven-wicket defeat for Derbyshire as Dynamos

captain Dale Benkenstein and Albie Morkel put on an unbroken 93

for the fourth wicket to take their side beyond a

Duckworth/Lewis revised target of 121 in 18 overs.

By the time the winning run was struck, the clock had ticked

on to 10.45pm, largely due to a delay of an hour and 25 minutes

because of the sun.

That is an irritating factor we had managed to avoid so far

this season in this competition. Sadly, it could not last.

It seemed the delay had done Derbyshire no good after they

had been put in to bat first by Durham.

They were 38-1 when the sides walked off at the end of the

eighth over and, four balls later, it was 40-2 when Greg Smith

was lbw attempting to sweep Gareth Breese.

With 11 overs gone, the Phantoms had limped along to 53-2

against, it has to be said, impressively tight bowling and they

were badly in need of a burst of energy.

Into the attack came 18-year-old leg spinner Scott Borthwick

and Rikki Clarke (pictured) took that as an invitation to press

down on the accelerator.

He hit Borthwick for 17, including a six and two fours. Dan

Birch followed up by striking the first three balls of Ben

Harmison's first over, the 15th, to the boundary and Derbyshire

were on their way to a reasonably good score.

Clarke was to make 36 off 27 balls, with two sixes and two

fours, which is his highest contribution of a disappointing

campaign with the bat but still a valuable one.

Birch added 23 off 17 balls with three fours but he too has

not really fired in Twenty20 cricket, though his opportunities

have been a bit more limited.

The 118-6 total was not a sure-fire match winner but having

fallen short in their earlier home matches by not adapting well

enough to the slower wickets, there was a more practical pace

to this innings and it promised to be a test.

Certainly it did when Michael Di Venuto was well caught low

at mid on by Graham Wagg off the third ball of the reply,

bowled by Kevin Dean, who was playing for the first time in the

competition this season.

Durham were 4-2 when Phil Mustard cut the second ball of the

second over to point, where Smith juggled and eventually held

the catch.

Even for a side which bats very deep, that was a less than

ideal start and when they fell to 31-3, as the Wagg-Dean

combination struck again to send Will Smith back to the

pavilion for 19, Derbyshire fancied their chances.

But the wily Benkenstein is a good man to have in such a

situation and he was not ruffled. In Morkel, his countryman

from South Africa who has joined the club especially for the

Twenty20s, he found the ideal partner and gradually, control

was wrestled from the Phantoms.

Morkel, who made a spectacular late impact to win the match

at Old Trafford, finished this one in style by hitting the

first two balls of the 16th over to the boundary – a four to

long on and a six over midwicket – and that was that.

He was 54 not out, made off 34 balls with two sixes and six

fours, while Benkenstein was 47 not out off 41 balls with four

fours.