Nottinghamshire won the battle of the two unbeaten sides in the northern group of the Benson & Hedges Cup when they beat Durham by five wickets with five balls to spare at Chester-le-Street.

In a high-scoring game which bore testament to the excellence of the Riverside pitch, Durham chose to bat first but their 252 for three never looked like being enough.

While their openers Jimmy Daley and Michael Gough scored at four an over in a stand of 116, Darren Bicknell and Guy Welton raced along at five an over in launching the reply with a partnership of 131.

There were two unnecessary run-outs as Notts slipped to 175 for four, but a stand of 54 in nine overs between Paul Johnson and Kevin Pietersen put them in sight of victory and with four needed off the last over Chris Read drove the first ball back over Paul Collingwood's head.

Pietersen, the 6ft 5in English-qualified South African all-rounder, was left unbeaten on 35 off 37 balls but he was beaten to the Gold Award by Welton, who was celebrating his 23rd birthday.

His innings of 75 off 87 balls ended unluckily when Greg Blewett called him for a single to cover and he was beaten by Jon Lewis's direct hit.

Durham were left to reflect on Daley's lack of acceleration as there was only one over left when he was out for 92. He contributed only 19 to a second-wicket stand of 78 with Queenslander Martin Love, whose high-class 59 came off only 47 balls.

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