DURHAM were undaunted by Stuart MacGill's bag of tricks last night as the leg-spinning wizard of Oz was upstaged by his countryman Brad Hodge.
With Hodge following his 77 in Monday's win against Somerset with an unbeaten 91 off 105 balls, Durham recorded their second consecutive National League win under the Trent Bridge floodlights.
They passed Nottinghamshire's 229 for six with three wickets down and 3.1 overs to spare, which was a remarkable recovery after the hosts put on 145 for the first wicket.
Durham also found a role for their other Australian, Ashley Thorpe, who took over the opening slot from Nicky Peng and hit a 50-ball half-century.
Given free rein to play his strokes, the left-handed Thorpe looked much happier than he has done in championship cricket and was severe on anything wide of off stump.
There was plenty of it from a depleted Nottinghamshire side, with left-armer David Lucas allowing Durham a flying start in the absence of the usual spearhead, Greg Smith.
Even when MacGill came on with the score on 84 for one after 14 overs, Thorpe drove his second ball past mid-off for four and the leg-spinner was rested after five wicketless overs.
He returned to snare Gordon Muchall for 22, and had Gary Pratt dropped on 13, but his liberal supply of full tosses left him with one for 41.
Despite the disadvantage of batting second, Durham made a brisk start and Michael Gough hit four fours in helping the score to 35 after six overs before he gloved a leg-side catch to the wicketkeeper.
Thorpe had seven fours in his 53 before he pushed into the covers and ran, only to be beaten by Bilal Shafayat's direct hit.
Muchall played well in a stand of 57, and Gary Pratt's sharp running helped to keep Hodge on strike as his cutting and driving became increasingly dominant.
Durham's off-spinning captain Phillips relied on his own breed to restrict Nottinghamshire after left-handed openers Darren Bicknell and Usman Afzaal put on 145 before being parted in the 30th over.
It ought to have been the launching pad for a total of around 260, but the hosts were without their big guns in the middle order as Kevin Pietersen and Paul Johnson are injured.
Most unusually in one-day cricket, the last 17 overs of the innings were all off-spin, with Gough being handed a full allocation of nine overs following his one-day best figures of three for 26 in Monday's win.
Although the ball wasn't turning sharply, nor was it coming on to the bat on the slow pitch, so Phillips clearly decided to make the inexperienced middle order take risks against the spinners.
He took three for 39 himself and Hodge chipped in with a wicket with his third ball when brought on in the 38th over, holding a return catch from Chris Read.
The other two victims were run out, starting with Afzaal for 75. It was the second time the third umpire had been called upon in the Sky-televised match for what proved very tight run-out decisions.
Bicknell survived on 35, although he would have been well short had Hodge's throw hit the stumps, while it was not quite clear when Afzaal was sent back whether Gary Pratt's throw from extra cover nicked the off stump or rebounded from his brother's gloves.
Either way, the bail was in the air fractionally before Afzaal regained his ground, giving Durham the breakthrough their seamers had not really threatened to achieve.
Phillips' first two overs were not his most accurate, but in his fourth the run-out came and in his fifth Bicknell failed to get to the pitch and chipped a catch to Gary Pratt at extra cover. Shafayat, an England Under 19 player, briefly lived up to his glowing reputation before Hodge ran to his left on the mid-wicket boundary to make a difficult catch look comfortable.
Another 19-year-old, Will Smith, struggled to 16 before falling in the 44th over when he went down the pitch to a quicker ball from Phillips and was stumped by Andrew Pratt, while Jason Gallian was run out off the last ball of the innings.
Read more about Durham here.
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