Hewson gives Derbyshire hope of semi-final place

An unbeaten 62 from 44 balls by Gary Pratt was in vain as Derbyshire beat Durham by six runs at Derby yesterday to stay on course for the semi-finals of the Twenty20 Cup.

Durham needed 25 from the final over to reach a target of 158 and Pratt gave Derbyshire a scare by taking 18 from Tom Lungley. Derbyshire's third victory, thanks to 36 and 2 for 20 from the all-rounder Dominic Hewson, sets up a showdown with the group leaders, Leicestershire, at Grace Road today.

Paul Weekes scored an excellent half-century as Middlesex Crusaders coasted to their second successive Twenty20 Cup victory against Hampshire Hawks at Uxbridge.

After restricting the visitors to just 134 for 7 with Simon Cook and Ashley Noffke both picking up three wickets, the home side cantered past their target with more than five overs to spare for a thumping eight-wicket success.

The victory gives the Crusaders an outside chance of reaching next month's finals, but only if they can win their last match against Essex and hope that other results go their way.

Glamorgan recorded their first victory in the Twenty20 Cup competition at Cardiff last night when they romped home by 56 runs against Worcestershire.

Before the match Glamorgan were the only county not to have won a match in the new competition, but although this game was only of academic interest as the Welshmen could not make any progress they still produced a magnificent performance, scoring 170 for 4 and bowling out Worcestershire for 114.