FOR the second successive day Durham put their fans through torture before pulling off an unlikely two-wicket win which earned them a Benson and Hedges Cup quarter-final place for the first time.

An unbroken stand of 50 between Melvyn Betts and Neil Killeen decided a see-saw encounter in which Worcestershire, tottering at 113 for nine, clawed their way to the brink of victory before Durham triumphed through the biggest stand of the match.

Durham had also come back from near oblivion in beating Scotland by the same margin the previous day, and on both occasions they have been heavily indebted to all-rounder Mike Foster.

After taking three for 26 yesterday, he was sent in as a pinch-hitting opener, a role which had to be redefined as Durham handed three wickets to Phil Newport and subsided to 50 for five.

The rest of the top six mustered 14 between them but Foster, punching powerfully off the back foot either side of the wicket, made 54 off 77 balls before David Leatherdale rattled the stumps in his first over.

His magic deserted him, however, as Betts and Killeen mixed fearless strokes with hectic scampering to complete their rescue operation.

The pitch offered a modicum of bounce and movement, but it was the impressive discipline of Durham's bowlers which initially undermined Worcestershire.

It was left to Richard Illingworth, with 35 not out, to lift them into the contest and his last-wicket stand of 48 with Alamgir Sheriyar looked priceless as Newport made inroads. But there was a sting in the Durham tail, too.