ANOTHER Aussie old boy returned to haunt Durham last night as Brad Hodge's exhilarating strokeplay almost emptied the bouncy castle in the Twenty20 Cup match at Riverside.

Following Simon Katich's recent century for Hampshire against Durham, Hodge again showed his liking for quickfire cricket as he followed his 97 against Yorkshire on Monday with an innings of 64 off 44 balls.

It helped Leicestershire to a total of 168 for nine, but what threatened to be another night of non-stop entertainment for a 3,800 crowd ultimately revealed the downside of this form of cricket.

Durham were well in the hunt at 55 for one in the seventh over.

But they then lost two wickets on the same total and panic set in, producing two run-outs as they subsided to 73 for six.

All hope of a dramatic finish had gone and the last eight overs were a non-event as Durham finished on 122 for nine, losing by 46 runs.

Man of the match Hodge, who played for Durham last September as a replacement for Martin Love, even had a hand in their collapse with his little-used off spin.

He kidded Ashley Thorpe by almost stopping in his run-up, as Robert Croft is wont to do, and the left-hander's attempt to paddle him to fine leg resulted in him playing on.

Hodge also swooped at mid-wicket to run out Durham skipper Jon Lewis for one, which effectively ended Durham's chances of a second win in the fledgling competition.

Despite an excellent effort from off-spinner Nicky Phillips, with two for 22 in his four overs, Durham's bowling was not as disciplined as in winning their opening Twenty20 game against Nottinghamshire on Friday.

Ian Hunter's recent good form deserted him and he was largely responsible for getting Hodge off to a flying start as he was pulled for three of the Australian's seven fours.

Leicestershire looked on course for something close to 200, but the fact that they kept losing wickets enabled Durham to peg them back.

Hodge relied mainly on superbly-timed orthodox strokes, and also ran like a whippet, but when he tried to improvise in the 16th over he became the sixth batsman to hear the refrains of Another One Bites The Dust.

He stepped across to the off side in an attempt to paddle Neil Killeen over short fine leg but spooned a simple catch to Vince Wells and Leicestershire's hopes of a late spurt vanished.

Durham again put the visitors in but did not get off to such a good start this time. Darren Stevens drove Killeen's first ball for a straight four then took a single, and when the bowler came off a short run for the last ball Virender Sehwag clipped it over mid-wicket for four.

Whereas Hunter took a wicket with his first ball against Nottinghamshire, this time he began with two wides down the leg side.

Things briefly looked up when Stevens cut Hunter's first legitimate ball to backward point, where Gary Pratt dived to his left and held a stunning one-handed catch.

But whereas Durham did not bowl any wides on Friday, Hunter followed up with a third in his first over then bowled a no-ball. Fortunately for him, Sehwag's attempt to club the free-hit through the off-side was well stopped by Thorpe at short extra cover.

Hunter's woes did not end there, however, as Hodge took 17 off his third over as Leicestershire reached 57 before the fielding restrictions were lifted after six overs.

They lost Sehwag in the fifth over when he drove at a slower ball from Killeen and edged to short third man, where Mark Davies took a good catch above his head.

It became 67 for three when Phillips replaced Hunter for the eighth over and Phil DeFreitas drove to long-on, where Nicky Peng ran 15 yards to his right to hold the catch.

With the biggest hitters gone, Phillips and Davies slowed the run rate, but when Wells came on for the 13th over his former colleague Darren Maddy hit a full toss wide of long-on for the only six of the match.

Although the next ball was a better length Maddy tried to swing it over mid-wicket and was bowled.

Wickets kept falling as Phil Mustard pulled off two slick stumpings, the first one coming when Phillips fired the ball well wide of left-hander Paul Nixon's leg stump.

The off-spinner followed up with four dot balls to Jeremy Snape, who was obviously conscious that there was little to come.

Despite his initial caution, he finished with 26 not out off 24 balls, scoring the bulk of the late runs as the innings ended with two run-outs to cap a generally sharp fielding display.

Leicestershire opted to change the bowling every over for the first eight. Durham took only three runs from DeFreitas's opener, then Mustard hoisted Charlie Dagnall for a straight four and pulled the next ball to the rope.

David Masters came on for the third over and Peng took ten off the first three balls, all through the off side, before cutting a catch straight to backward point.

Wells drove his first ball to deep cover for three, then greeted Jamie Grove by cutting his first three balls for four, two, four before his runs dried up.

In trying to drive Masters well wide of off stump he left his crease and was stumped by Nixon for 17 and when off-spinner Snape came on for the next over Mustard lifted his second ball straight to deep midwicket.

Thorpe was next to go, then Lewis called Gary Pratt for a suicidal single to mid-on and Durham had self-destructed.

They now have three away games, starting with Headingley tomorrow, to get back on track for a palce in the finals at Trent Bridge