Mady Villiers and Bess Heath hit quick-fire half-centuries but Durham fall 59 runs short of their revised Duckworth-Lewis Stern target against Metro Bank One Day Cup leaders The Blaze.
Superb hundreds from Kathryn Bryce (136) and Georgia Elwiss, with a career-best unbeaten 134, helped The Blaze to their highest List A team total at 356 for four as the Nottinghamshire team consolidated their place at the top.
The Blaze completed their 10th win from 12 matches by 59 runs on a Duckworth-Lewis-Stern calculation after a mid-afternoon downpour at Trent Bridge, where visitors Durham were bowled out for 217 in pursuit of a revised target of 277 from 34 overs.
Blaze skipper Kirstie Gordon took four for 54 and Grace Ballinger three for 44 after Mady Villiers (65 from 34 balls) and Bess Heath (57 from 28) had tried valiantly to keep their side in the hunt.
Bryce and Elwiss shared a partnership of 233 – another record for The Blaze and a competition record for the third wicket in the women’s One-Day Cup.
The Blaze, having been asked to bat first, were 51 for one after 10 overs.
Eleanor Larosa, the Australian left-arm seamer making her Durham debut, had Marie Kelly caught at mid-off with her fifth ball as Durham’s decision to bowl reaped an early dividend. When Katie Levick joined the attack in the 12th over and had Tammy Beaumont leg before with her first ball, The Blaze were 55 for two.
But that was as promising as the picture ever looked for the visitors as Bryce and Elwiss took charge, taking turns to inflict punishment as Durham’s bowlers regularly offered width on both sides of the wicket. They took 14 overs to complete a 100-run partnership, and another 14 to double it.
Bryce’s hundred came off 117 balls with 11 fours, many punched square of the wicket on the off side; the resourceful Elwiss’s was quicker, from 89 balls with 14 fours, as she posted her first for The Blaze.
They were finally parted when Bryce was leg-before trying to reverse-sweep Scotland international team-mate Katherine Fraser’s off-spin.
Elwiss added 69 in just 37 balls with Ireland international Orla Prendergast (27 off 18).
Gordon bowled Mia Rogers and Durham were 43 for one from 10 overs in reply when the rain arrived. On the restart, Hollie Armitage quickly found a fielder, and though Villiers struck four sixes, the rate required kept climbing and the wickets kept falling.