Matt Critchley hit 49 and Ravi Rampaul claimed two wickets, but Derbyshire lost to Durham by three wickets in the Royal London One-Day Cup at Emirates Riverside.
Tom Lace also hit a career-best 48 as Derbyshire posted 255-8 – a competitive total which at one stage looked defendable as Rampaul struck twice in quick succession.
But four scores over 40 for the hosts, led by an unbeaten 72 from Michael Richardson meant Durham avoided a late scare and chased down Derbyshire’s total with three wickets and three overs to spare.
After being put into bat Derbyshire made a watchful start to their innings on a pitch which offered encouragement for the bowlers. Billy Godleman (23) and Luis Reece (20) put on 35 for the opening wicket, before Reece was caught in the deep in the tenth over.
Godleman fell with the score 74-2, but Derbyshire continued to make good progress as Wayne Madsen (38) and Leus du Plooy (32) both got into the thirties.
Lace looked fluent alongside Critchley but he fell two short of a maiden List A half-century as Derbyshire stuttered to 188-6 with less than ten overs to go.
Some powerful striking from Critchley, as well as inventive flicks from Harvey Hosein (21) took Derbyshire past 250 and to 255-8 as Hosein fell in the penultimate over.
With a competitive score on the board, Derbyshire started well with the ball as Sam Conners had Graham Clark caught off a leading edge with just his second ball.
He was in the action again soon after with a direct hit to run out Scott Steel after he’d raced to 32 from 28.
At 50-2 Cameron Bancroft joined Alex Lees and the in-form pair combined well to put on 78 for the third wicket and keep Durham ahead of the rate and in control of the chase.
Two quick wickets from Rampaul, who first had Lees caught by Conners for 55 and then Bancroft caught behind for 45, clawed a way back into the match for Derbyshire.
More wickets were needed though and Richardson set about rebuilding again with Jack Burnham (45). They looked comfortable in rotating the strike and picking off the bad balls in their stand worth 88.
Despite two late wickets for Tom Lace, his first in List A cricket, the platform had been set and two sixes for Richardson kept the hosts on track and over the line to record their highest successful run chase against Derbyshire in List A cricket.
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