Loye runs riot

Mal Loye's blistering 89 set up Lancashire's 39-run triumph in the North Division encounter

Lancashire improved their chances of making the knockout stages of the Twenty20 Cup following an impressive 39-run victory over Durham in the North Division clash at the Riverside.

The visitors posted a formidable 180 for four in front of a 5,475 crowd after they lost the toss, and backed it up with a good performance in the field.

Mal Loye was once again Durham's nemesis as he displayed an innovative range of strokes to fall just 11 runs short of a century.

Loye's best 50-over and Twenty20 scores had both been against Durham and the 34-year-old again took a liking to their attack once more.

Loye, who hit an unbeaten 80 in Lancashire's six-wicket Twenty20 Cup win over Durham earlier in the month, hit six fours in the opening four overs.

He reached his half-century off 37 balls and, when he was finally dismissed in the penultimate over of the innings, his 62-ball 89 included 10 fours and two swept sixes.

Lancashire got off to a flyer with Sanath Jayasuriya making his first notable contribution with the bat after two single-figure scores.

Loye and Jayasuriya put on 81 for the first wicket, with 65 coming in the six overs of field restrictions as Durham struggled to stem the flow.

Jayasuriya was eventually caught by Gordon Muchall on the mid-wicket boundary for 32 to give off-spinner Gareth Breese the first of his three wickets.

However, Loye and Brad Hodge continued to score freely as they put on 80 inside eight overs.

Sanath Jayasuriya shared an opening stand of 81 with Loye before taking four wickets

Hodge hit occasional spinner Will Smith for two leg-side sixes in the 17th over before he skied the same bowler to Dale Benkenstein, who took a good catch on the run.

Hodge's brisk 34 had come off 22 balls and only wicket-keeper Gareth Cross missed out when he was stumped by Phil Mustard off Breese for a duck.

West Indian Breese was comfortably the pick of the Durham bowlers, taking 3-19 from his allotted four overs.

Durham began their reply needing to make their highest Twenty20 score, their previous best being 180 for four against Nottinghamshire in 2005.

They made a promising start, racking up 65 in the first five overs for the loss of Mustard, who hit a two-a-ball 26.

The left-hander struck the first three deliverires of Kyle Hogg's second over for 14 runs before he absentmindedly flicked the next straight to Oliver Newby at leg slip.

With Michael Di Venuto unable to bat after he fractured his finger in the field from just the fifth ball of the day, Durham elevated New Zealand all-rounder Scott Styris to the top of the order.

Styris hit two sixes and two fours in a knock of 29 before Newby uprooted his middle stump, and the Dynamos' next four batsmen failed to make double figures.

Jayasuriya took the wickets of Smith and Gordon Muchall while a fine diving stop and throw from Mark Chilton at cover ran out Benkenstein.

Durham were up with the required rate at the halfway stage on 93 for five but the wickets were tumbling and, with Di Venuto absent, Lancashire eased to victory.

A steepling diving catch from Jayasuriya accounted for Breese and the Sri Lankan then removed Garry Park for 12.

Ottis Gibson hit two towering sixes before he was run out for 22 and Durham lost their ninth - and final - wicket when Steve Harmison became Jayasuriya's fourth victim as the innings ended on 141 in the 17th over.