Durham suffered a fourth defeat in five outings despite a T20 career-best 85 not out from England all-rounder Mady Villiers.
After winning the toss and choosing to bat the home side were soon in trouble when they lost former New Zealand skipper Suzie Bates to the third ball of the innings – clean bowled by England’s Issy Wong without scoring.
Leah Dobson (8) quickly became Wong’s second scalp but Villiers, who was dropped early in her innings, crashed 11 fours and one six while finding useful support from skipper Hollie Armitage (15) and Bess Heath (27) to keep the scoreboard ticking over and set a challenging total.
Wong’s return of 2-19 was well backed up by Hannah Baker’s 2-22 from her four overs with the Bears bowling attack standing up well to Villiers’ onslaught.
The visitors made light work of their victory target with openers Meg Austin and Davina Perrin sharing a stand of 62 from the opening six overs to set a platform for them to ease home with 10 balls to spare.
Perrin eventually perished for 49 from 31 deliveries only for wicketkeeper Nat Wraith to take the Bears to the brink of victory, with her 56 containing seven fours before she became Villiers’ sole victim with the ball.
“I don’t think we should go away from how well Mady [Villiers] played first half – it was a great innings and if you’re doing things like that, you shouldn’t be losing games of cricket,” said Durham head coach Dani Hazell.
The Bears remain in third place while Durham are second from bottom.
