The all rounder returned figures of 5-6 as he demolished the visitors batting line-up in a spell of three overs and dismissed Bilal Shafayat, David Willey and Oliver Stone on his way to become the first Dynamos player to take a hat-trick in the 20 over game.
Earlier the home-side had posted a competitive total of 144-7 with skipper Dale Benkenstein and South African batsman David Miller leading the way with scores of 31 and 30 respectively.
Needing to win the game to have a hope of progressing to the quarter finals of the Friends Life t20, Benkenstein won the toss and elected to bat first.
Openers Gordon Muchall and Phil Mustard got the Dynamos off to a good start before Muchall departed in the third over for 12 as he was bowled by David Lucas.
Ian Blackwell followed Muchall back to the pavilion in the next over as he was caught behind by Niall O’Brien for 4 to leave the home-side in a spot of trouble at 25-2.
Miller and Mustard steadied the ship as Durham past the 50 mark but soon after that Mustard was run-out by Shafayat for 20 as the wicket-keeper attempted a quick second run.
After a cautious start to his innings the South African batsman began to find the middle of the bat and scored three boundaries getting to 30 but was unfortunately caught on the boundary by Stone off the bowling of Willey going for another big shot.
This brought the skipper to the crease and he immediately began to raise the tempo of the Dynamos innings with inventive stroke making and hard running as the forefront of his innings.
He and Gareth Breese powered Durham over the 100 in the 16th over with the off-spinner smacking the only six of the match into the Don Robson Pavillion off the bowling of Lee Daggett as he raced to 18 off 12 balls before being stumped by O’Brien off the bowling of Johan Botha.
Benkenstein continued to find boundary as the innings reached its climax and he along with Scott Borthwick (4*) helped the home-side reach 144-7 in the final over.
Graham Onions got Durham off to a great start with the ball as he claimed the wicket of Northants opener Rob White for two with his first delivery.
The England seamer struck again two overs later grabbing the wicket of Robert Keogh as he had him caught behind by Mustard and Mitchell Claydon helped put the Steelbacks in real trouble with the dismissal of John Botha leaving the visitors 14-3.
Alex Wakely and O’Brien tried to rebuild the Northants innings but then Collingwood took over and struck with his first ball to remove Wakely as he was spectacularly caught by Benkenstein who dove to his right to pluck the ball out of the air to put Durham firmly in command.
Collingwood took a hat-trick in his next over with the wickets of Shafayat, Willey and Stone and recorded the County’s best ever t20 figures with the dismissal of Lucas with the Steelbacks reeling at 44-8.
Claydon returned to grab the final two wickets of Brooks and Daggett to win the game for the Dynamos in style as the quick posted figures of 3-6 leaving Northants 47 all out 98 runs short of their target.
The victory leaves Durham in fourth place in the FriendsLife t20 North Group which would give them qualification for the quarter-finals, however a victory for Worcestershire tomorrow over Nottinghamshire would see the Dynamos fall short.
On his hat-trick Paul Collingwood said, “It was brilliant. Obviously you don’t expect to take a hat-trick when you turn at the ground. It was just one of those days where everything went well with the ball.
“It was a great victory. Obviously we knew we had to win, and I think you could see from the way we performed that the boys were really up for it.
“We had a decent total on that wicket. It was nibbling around a touch, so it was good to get the runs we did and in the end a good win.
“The guys probably struggled to time the ball well on the wicket, and to hit the big shots and get the big boundaries.
“You can always tell when the pitch is doing a bit, so we knew that was decent total.
“But we had to make a better effort than we had in the last couple of games.
“We were a bit disappointing with the ball in certain areas in those matches, but tonight with our bowling and fielding I think we were on top of our game.”