Lancashire defeat Durham by one run.

Lancashire and Durham tied back in 2012 when both sides scored 133.

Lancashire edged a nail-biter at Chester-le-Street against the Durham Jets to earn their third successive win of the Natwest T20 Blast, as they successfully defended 133-6 to go top of the North Group.

Scoring runs was an unfavourable task for both sides, but Karl Brown's heroics proved to be the difference as he made a match-winning contribution of 61 from 51 balls, including an over which profited 23 runs to guide the visitors towards a competitive total.

Durham seemed to be in control as Callum Macleod (45) led their run chase, but the hosts lost their way and suffered the loss of four wickets for 15 runs in the closing stages of the match as Junaid Khan claimed 3-21.

After a break from the shortest format of the game, Lancashire won the toss and elected to bat first, but it became clear that scoring runs was going to be a challenging prospect after losing Tom Smith (18) and Alex Davies (1) inside the powerplay.

Wickets continued to fall but runs were still a collectors item, as captain Paul Horton fell for 12 and at 48-3 the visitors were well and truly under the cosh. The partnership between Karl Brown and Steven Croft in Lancashire's last twenty20 fixture yielded 131 runs, but today their stand at the crease added just nine.

Brown's innings proved to be crucial.

A substantial stand was needed to give Lancashire any chance of redeeming the match and a 69-run partnership for the fifth wicket between Brown and Jordan Clark (27*) did exactly that. Brown's over proved to be the difference in the end and in smashing 23 runs from one over he propelled the visitors into a healthy position.

In his search for more boundaries Brown was eventually caught after he brought up his half-cenutry in 44 balls and at 127-5 Lancashire were now in a much more comfortable position. Chris Rushworth returned to claim the wicket of Andrea Agathangelou (0) as he finished with 2-25 and Lancashire posted 133-6.

Durham's reply suggested that Lancashire were 20 runs short as Phil Mustard (17) started brightly for the hosts. The Lightning were able to seize wickets at crucial times, the first of which was that of the durham captain, Mark Stoneman, who fell for 12 to give Khan his first scalp of the innings.

But this brought Macleod to the crease and his contribution ensured that Durham retained control of the match for the majority of their innings, before they lost their way in the latter stages in chase of 134.

The loss of Mustard and the potentially dangerous Ben Stokes (1) proved to be crucial wickets in this innings as Durham stumbled to 51-3 after the England international was bowled in an attempt to reverse-sweep Arron Lilley (1-13).

Spin partner, Stephen Parry, played a significant role with the ball in this fixture affording just 16 runs from his four over allocation, claiming the wicket of Paul Collingwood (19) and for the first time in their runs chase Durham appeared to be nervous having slipped to 98-4.

The match was now in the balance but with wickets falling the run rate began to increase and with that pressure came further breakthroughs for Lancashire, as Khan returned to claim the precious wicket of Macleod.

At 99-5 Lancashire were now the favourites and Durham were only able to add one more run before Gareth Breese was bowled by Croft (1-25) as the run rate began to spiral out of control. Durham were not prepared to lose the match without giving it their best shot as Muchall added a five to the total, but it was Ryan Pringle who gave the home crowd their best chance for victory.

Needing 15 runs from the final over, the hosts claimed seven runs from the first two deliveries and the efforts of Khan in the previous over were starting to be reduced as Ali battled at the death to restrict the flow of runs.

But the four off the second ball from Pringle, who scored 14 from just 6 balls, was to be the only boundary of the over as Durham entered the final ball of the game needing four runs to win. The hosts fell agonisingly short of the target as Pringle struck the last delivery down the ground and was only able to scamper through for two runs.

This narrow victory gives Lancashire their third successive win of the contest and they will be hoping to continue this run of form tomorrow evening against the Birmingham Bears at Emirates Old Trafford.

Man of the match:

Karl Brown's 61 from 51 balls was the standout performance from both sides as he scored 23 runs in one over and four sixes inside seven deliveries. Scoring runs was difficult for either side, but he took his time and his patience was rewarded with a second half-century in this format in 2014. After scoring 67 in Lancashire's previous match against Derbyshire, Brown is the Lightning's form player and will be vital going forward in this campaign.