WITH the talismanic Phil Mustard enduring a night to forget, Durham failed miserably to complete their second double of the week against Lancashire last night.
They lost the Friends Life Twenty20 match at Old Trafford by 27 runs after throwing away early wickets when chasing the hosts' 161 for five.
Lancashire were much sharper in the field and on a sluggish pitch their spinners, especially Gary Keedy, found more turn than the Durham pair.
Liam Plunkett looked too low in the order, going in at 68 for seven and hitting three sixes in making 41 off 26 balls before being run out in the final over as Durham finished on 135 for nine.
The sloppiness in the field was highlighted by a misfield from Mitch Claydon and a costly missed stumping by Mustard.
Karl Brown, the 23-year-old Bolton batsman, was on seven when he was beaten by Ian Blackwell and appeared resigned to his fate until he realised the ball was at Mustard's feet.
Brown capitalised with some surprisingly powerful striking in a 35-ball half-century as he put on 78 in eight overs with acting captain Steven Croft.
Good bowling by Chris Rushworth held Lancashire in check at the end of their innings, but Durham lost Mustard in the first over of their reply.
Gordon Muchall looked very fortunate to survive a run out appeal off the previous ball but Mustard responded by flicking a catch to deep backward square leg. He was out for one after going into the match with 300 runs in the competition at an average of 50.
Two overs later Blackwell miscued Pakistani Junaid Khan's slower ball to mid-on, bringing in Paul Collingwood at 22 for two with no T20 form behind him.
He made only three before having his leg bail trimmed when making room to clip left-armer Khan to fine leg.
One-day captain Dale Benkenstein must have wondered why it was again up to him after hitting 60 in last Friday's 83-run home win against Lancashire, followed by his unbeaten 83 and 60 in the championship victory at Liverpool.
He had to fail some time and the second ball bowled by left-arm spinner Stephen Parry skidded on to bowl him for five.
When Keedy then turned one sharply to have Muchall smartly stumped by Gareth Cross it was all over for Durham.
It became 49 for six when Sri Lankan Farveez Maharoof ran in from deep square leg to dive forward and hold a brilliant catch to get rid of Gareth Breese.
Scott Borthwick made 30 before he was run out by Khan in his follow through from one of several impressive yorkers he bowled at the death.
After turning the pitches through 90 degrees because of problems with the setting sun, Lancashire have played only one-day matches at Old Trafford this season.
Stadium development is also continuing, with floodlights now installed, but a courtroom battle is scheduled for next week, which will determine whether the full plan goes ahead.
Uncertainty about how last night's pitch would play prompted Durham to reverse their recent tactic of batting first when their incredible luck with the toss continued.
The Lancashire batsmen also seemed unsure how high to set their sights and quickly discovered that the ball was not coming on to the bat as well as they might have hoped.
Only nine came off the first two overs from Rushworth and Claydon, who struck with his sixth ball when Stephen Moore went for a big drive wide of off stump and got an inside edge into his stumps.
Plunkett slotted in a couple of tidy overs and the total reached only 37 at the end of the six-over fielding restrictions, when teams are usually looking for at least 50.
One over from Collingwood yielded nine, including a flip to fine leg for four by Croft, and after seven overs Durham turned to the spinners with immediate success.
Tom Smith chipped Breese's first ball to Will Smith at mid-on to depart for 22 and after being driven for a big six by Croft, Blackwell conceded only two in his second over, when he should also have had Brown stumped.
But Brown quickly began to make Durham pay for the lapse, smashing Breese over long-off for six before both batsmen cleared the rope in Blackwell's third over.
Three overs cost 36 runs and Plunkett's return for the 15th didn't help as he sent down two wides and conceded 14.
Croft reached 50 off 34 balls but Collingwood's return snared him as he miscued a slower ball to Breese and with Rushworth returning to bowl two excellent overs Durham stemmed the flow.
Brown also departed straight after reaching 50 when he went back for a second run to long-on in the 19th over and was beaten by Muchall's direct hit.
Claydon returned for the final over but after taking out Cross's off stump with the first ball he conceded 14, Sajid Mahmood clobbering the final ball over long-off for six.
Benkenstein saw no reason to bowl himself or to call on Borthwick and must have felt the 162 target was well within range.
But whatever Durham had done in the two days since completing their championship double over Lancashire it certainly didn't help them to switch back into Twenty20 mode.
They will want to be much sharper at home to Worcestershire tomorrow afternoon if they are to stay in the running for a quarter-final place.
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