DERBYSHIRE'S big total was not quite big enough as Northamptonshire pulled off their record highest successful t20 chase to beat them last night at Wantage Road.
Tom Knight launched Derbyshire to 191-6 – their sixth-highest score in the competition – to give the Falcons a great chance of only their second NatWest t20 Blast victory of the season.
Knight hammered five sixes in 44 not out off only 18 balls but the Steelbacks produced a late burst of their own to win by four wickets with four balls to spare.
Derbyshire recovered well after the loss of Chesney Hughes in the third over, Marcus North and Gareth Cross putting on 67 for the second wicket in seven overs.
Cross, who's pinch-hitting at number three has been more miss than hit, struck his former Lancashire team-mate Steven Crook for 14, with three fours, to end the power play phase at 54-1 but North went for a run-a-ball 29 in the 10th over when he skied a slog-sweep at James Middlebrook.
Cross moved on to 48 but Crook switched ends and returned to the attack with two key wickets – having Cross caught at short cover and Wayne Madsen at third man for 10 in four balls.
That was 101-4 in the 13th over and Cross' runs came off 33 balls with five fours and a six but Derbyshire were stalling in the middle period of their innings again when Crook had Alex Hughes lbw for two at 118-5 in the 15th over.
They badly needed a late lift and got it from an unlikely combination.
Billy Godleman had scored only eight runs in his previous three t20 appearances for Derbyshire and Knight had only scored 14 runs in four innings but together they put on 47 in 24 balls for the sixth wicket.
Godleman moved on to 39 off 24 balls with five fours and a six before he was bowled by a full-length Olly Stone ball in the 19th over but Knight saw it through in spectacular fashion.
He swept Graeme White for two successive sixes in the 17th over but saved his best for last, launching David Willey over square leg, long off and long on in the final over.
By adding 73 off the last 31 balls, the Falcons had a very good total to defend.
Richard Levy threatened to make short work of it, though. The big South African, scorer of three t20 centuries, threatened a fourth as he moved to 69 off 37 balls with seven fours and four sixes but he tried to hit David Wainwright over deep midwicket and was caught by Godleman.
He and Willey had put on 96 in 10.3 overs and the Falcons badly needed to take some of that steam out of the Steelbacks' charge.
Though Kyle Coetzer attempted to pick that momentum straight back up, he was bowled for 13 in a Wainwright over that cost him only one run as well as bringing that wicket and Northants went into the last seven overs needing 75.
Croft was caught at long off in the next to make it 119-3 and Wainwright took a third wicket when, the ball after Willey hit him for six, he had the opener caught at deep midwicket for 40 as Northants went into the last five overs needing 57.
Adam Rossington (34) and Ben Duckett (14) cut a huge slice out of that but when Greg Cork dismissed both in three balls of the 19th over, 14 more were needed off the last eight balls.
Derbyshire sensed they could snatch it back then but White smashed the first two balls he faced for sixes and that was that.
