Lancashire Lightning defeated Durham by three wickets with two balls to spare at Emirates Old Trafford to finally extinguish the visitors’ chances of making the knockout stages of this year’s Vitality Blast.

However, the home side will also go no further after Essex beat Surrey and edged out Lancashire for a spot in the quarter-finals.

Having dismissed their opponents for 141, in which Colin Ackermann made a pragmatic 66 not out off 45 balls, Lancashire’s reply was uncertain until Keaton Jennings settled the nerves with an unbeaten 41 off 33 balls.

Ben Raine took a magnificent 4 for 21 for Durham and the outcome was in doubt until Jennings pulled a Matty Potts full toss into the crowd in the final over.

Every attempt Durham made to accelerate in the first half of their innings was frustrated by the regular loss of wickets and the visitors reached the ten-over mark on 62 for 5. Alex Lees was leg-before for one to the ninth ball of the day bowled by Saqib Mahmood, who also bowled Ben McKinney round his legs for 8.

Sandwiched between those dismissals, Graham Clark was beaten for pace and bowled for 18 by Mitch Stanley to leave Durham on 33 for 3.

Three of the next four wickets fell to Shadab Khan, although the spinner was grateful for the fine running catch taken by Liam Livingstone at deep midwicket which removed Brydon Carse for 2. A few minutes earlier, Livingstone had taken a simpler return catch of his own bowling to remove Kasey Aldridge for 10 and it soon became plain that Durham’s chances of posting a remotely defendable total rested on the shrewd head of Ackermann.

While his side subsided to 105 for 8 in the 13th over, Ackermann was patiently making a half-century off 37 balls and ensuring Durham still had a sniff of achieving the sort of total their bowlers needed. He put on 22 for the ninth wicket with Callum Parkinson and was unbeaten on 66 when Nathan Sowter was run out off the last ball of the innings. Mahmood finished with 3 for 20 and Shadab 3 for 28.

In reply, Lancashire lost Ben McDermott for 11 in the third over but Livingstone joined Phil Salt and the pair brought their side’s 50 up in the sixth over. Problems arose first when Salt was bowled by Raine for 32 and then when Livingstone was castled by Sowter for 17.

That left Lancashire on 72 for 3 after ten overs and some nerves felt by home spectators were settled by Jennings who put on 22 with Shadab and Matty Hurst, who added another 23 before holing out off Raine.

With 23 needed off 19 balls, Joe Moores was leg-before to Raine for 1 to set up a gripping finale.