WORCESTERSHIRE Royals will need to beat Essex Eagles in their last match of the season at New Road next Sunday to guarantee promotion to the First Division of the Norwich Union League.

The County missed a golden opportunity to secure a top three promotion spot yesterday by losing by nine runs against Durham Dynamos under the Duckworth-Lewis method at the Riverside.

Durham's triumph was enough to ensure they join Glamorgan Dragons in the top flight next term.

The County's hopes of going up, however, were boosted by their promotion rivals Hampshire Hawks suffering a surprise four-wicket defeat against Middlesex yesterday.

New Road Director of Cricket Tom Moody was dismayed by his side's performance yesterday, saying: "It was very disappointing. We got ourselves into a position where we should have won comfortably.

"We got off to the perfect start in a run chase, but the second-half of our batting was something we would want to forget quickly.

"Our general game was below par and we'll need to step up more than a gear or two on Sunday."

Third-in-the-table Worcestershire were their own worst enemies as they were cruising at 83 without loss in the 13th over in pursuit of a revised target of 208 in 39 overs.

Danny Law then took three wickets, including the brilliant leg-side stumping of skipper Graeme Hick for two by Andrew Pratt. It was a close call, decided by third umpire Barrie Leadbeater, who was again called into action three overs later when Pratt kicked the ball into the stumps and Vikram Solanki was run out.

The rot started when Philip Weston swung across the line and was bowled for 43. Paul Pollard was caught by Pratt next ball and after slumping to 103 for four, Hick's men lost momentum and finished on 198 for eight.

Apart from Pratt, who also made 56 in his role as a opener, Durham's other hero was skipper Jon Lewis.

He made 76 not out off 66 balls, scoring almost all the 43 runs they took off the last five overs.

After the first of two showers, the match was reduced to 41 overs a side.