The Dynamos have done all they can to secure a Friends Life t20 finals berth after winning their fourth match in a row to defeat Derbyshire at Emirates Durham ICG this afternoon.
The Dynamos put together another all-round performance to defeat the Falcons by 37 runs with Gordon Muchall superb with the bat making 66 from 36 whilst all of the Durham bowling attack contributed with the ball.
The win means Durham have secured 3rd spot in the Northern Pool and will now have an anxious wait to see if their 11.75 points are enough to see them in the quarter final stage.
The results Durham will want is for Gloucestershire to upset Glamorgan in the Midlands, Wales and West pool or Surrey (Currently 2nd on 12 points) to defeat Essex (currently 3rd on 11 points) and Hampshire (currently 1st place on 13 points) to defeat Middlesex (currently 4th on 10 points) in the South group.
Earlier in the day the visitors won the toss and sent the Dynamos in to bat with Stoneman and Mustard getting the Dynamos off to a good start with the duo finding the boundaries with ease to build the Dynamos a good platform.
The pair put on 55 for the opening partnership before 100-gamer Mustard tried to go long once again but fell this time fell short to find Hughes to depart for 24 in the 8th over
Skipper Mark Stoneman carried on for a couple more overs and looked on track to make his first half century of the short format season until he too found Hughes to depart for 47 from 33 with the Dynamos 83-2.
Scott Borthwick and Gordon Muchall then put together a superb partnership finding all parts of the ground, with Muchall entertaining the crowd with his usual big hitting prowess.
Muchall quickly made his way to 50 off just 26 balls with an entertaining half century which included 3 fours and 2 sixes
With just 3 overs to go the 79 run stand between Borthwick and Muchall ended when Borthwick attempted a reverse shot but went lbw with Groenewald getting the wicket.
Muchall continued to destroy the Falcons attack in the final three overs with some innovative hitting combining with Stokes to get Durham to 187-3 off their 20 overs.
Muchall finished on 66 from 36 balls whilst Stokes was the other not out batsmen on 10.
The Derbyshire batsmen made their intentions known from the first ball and got off to a quick start with 24 runs off the first two overs.
It was Chris Rushworth who halted their momentum however as he struck in the 4th over to dismiss Durston for 16 who hit one straight up in the air to find Graham Onions.
Graham Onions then kept the ball rolling for Durham as he struck in the 5th over to knock over Chanderpaul’s stumps to clean bowl him without making a run and the Falcons were 42-2 a quarter of the way through their innings.
Chesney Hughes was giving the Durham attack a few headaches and finding the boundary regularly until Gareth Breese came into the attack and he combined with 100 gamer Phil Mustard who got the stumping to dismiss Hughes for 33 from 22 balls.
The next over Onions came on from the Lumley end and had immediate effect dismissing Derbyshire skipper Madsen for 3 with Will Smith taking a very sharp catch to have the Falcons 55-4 in the 8th.
At the half way mark Derbyshire had made their way to 77-4 and were still very much in with a chance with Durham just 4 runs ahead at the same stage in their innings.
Ben Stokes then came on for the first time in the afternoon and had immediate effect striking on his second ball to trap Johnson lbw for 12 leaving Derbyshire 82-5 in the 12th over.
Gareth Breese continued to bowl well and slowed the Falcons run chase down with a good spell which finished on 1-18 after his 4 overs.
Stokes then struck again, this time with some quick reflexes as Redfern played the ball back to him with Hughes backing up short of his ground at the other end and Stokes smashing the stumps to claim the 6th wicket in the 14th over.
Scott Borthwick then came into the attack and had a wicket in his first over, clean bowling Groenewald for 1 leaving Derbyshire 108-7 in the 15th over.
He then struck again in the 17th over when Ben Stokes took an absolutely superb diving catch to dismiss Refern for 41 and leave the Falcons 8 wickets down.
Borthwick then claimed a run out and Chris Rushworth picked up his second in the final stages to claim the wicket of last man in Footitt to bowl Derbyshire all out for 150 in the 19th over to give Durham a 37 run win.
Hopefully it is not the end of the road for the Dynamos who have had a solid t20 season and have shown they can be real title contenders with some superb displays of short format cricket.
We will just wait and see (and perhaps do a few rain dances) and fingers crossed the Dynamos season rolls on.