Tillakaratne Dilshan produced a fantastic all-round performance but Derbyshire Falcons lost by five runs to Durham Jets in a thriller at The 3aaa County Ground.
Dilshan (2-28) and Nathan Rimmington, who took 2-29 on debut, helped to limit Durham to 147-7 despite a battling 41 from Paul Collingwood.
The Sri Lanka batsman then took centre stage with the bat as he scored 54 to get Derbyshire off to a good start as they reached 86-2 at the halfway stage.
But Durham bowled well in the second half of the Falcons innings, and as wickets tumbled late on Derbyshire fell just short of their victory target on 142-9.
It was a good start for Durham after being asked to bat first as Phil Mustard and Mark Stoneman played fluently, taking Durham to 35-0 after the first four overs. But Rimmington, who was making his Falcons debut, showed the depth of his bowling variations straight away, and he clean bowled Mustard for 20 in his second over.
Shiv Thakor then bowled Graeme Clark the following over before England all-rounder Ben Stokes joined Stoneman out in the middle and quickly got to grips with his return to county action as he lofted Wayne White over midwicket for six.
Derbyshire began to turn the screw in the middle overs as Dilshan firstly trapped Stoneman lbw for 28 before dismissing the key man in Stokes, as he was caught in the deep by Tom Knight for 19.
The experience of 39-year-old Collingwood helped Derbyshire recover from 88-4 to 120-4 with three overs to go, but Muchall was then dismissed by White with Knight taking another smart catch in the deep.
Collingwood eventually fell in the penultimate over for a well-made 41 as he was caught by Thakor off the bowling of Rimmington.
Ben Cotton bowled Ryan Pringle for three as Durham chased quick runs in the latter stages of their innings, before closing on 147-7.
Derbyshire’s opening pair of Dilshan and Wes Durston started well with a brisk partnership of 34 in three overs, before Durston was run out by Collingwood when on 21.
Dilshan continued to play his shots, as he launched John Hastings over midwicket for six with Derbyshire reaching 58-1 at the end of the batting Powerplay.
Chesney Hughes played well for his 11-ball 21 before he was bowled by Scott Borthwick to leave Derbyshire 75-2 after eight overs. Durham were economical in the middle overs as former England internationals Collingwood and Scott Borthwick took the pace off the ball with the aim of reducing the run rate.
Scott Elstone was dismissed by Borthwick for 13, before Billy Godleman was stumped off the bowling of Pringle for 1, to leave Derbyshire 110-4.
Dilshan, who brought his fifty up from 47 balls, was out soon after as he went for 54, caught by Collingwood off the bowling of Hastings.
Thakor and Tom Poynton came to the crease as Derbyshire required 30 from four overs, with Durham sensing an unlikely comeback. The visitors stayed calm in the latter stages with Hastings dismissing Poynton and Knight in successive balls to finish with figures of 3-29 from his four overs.
11 runs were required from the final over but Thakor and White were both caught off the bowling of Usman Arshad, while Rimmington could only muster a single off the final ball to give Durham a five-run victory.
Click here to view the Scorecard>>
Derbyshire are back in NatWest T20 Blast action on Thursday 18 June when they welcome Leicestershire Foxes to The 3aaa County Ground.
