Durham made it three wins out of four in their Vitality Blast campaign after defeating Lancashire Lightning by six wickets at Seat Unique Riverside
The home side put in an impressive effort to limit a formidable batting unit featuring Jos Buttler, Liam Livingstone and Phil Salt to only 152 from their 20 overs. Nathan Sowter, Ben Raine, Bas de Leede and Wayne Parnell claimed two wickets each, while Steven Croft top-scored for the Lightning, who were made to rue a poor end to their innings mustering only 18 from their final four overs.
After making a rapid start to their innings, Durham were always ahead of the rate. Michael Jones was the standout batter with an innings of 43 and was supported by another good knock from Ollie Robinson to secure the win and put Durham well in the mix for a top-four spot in the North Group, while the Lightning fell to their third defeat on the bounce.
Lancashire won the toss and elected to bat, and Buttler looked to get back into touch after a lean spell in his last four T20 matches, including his dismissal for one against Yorkshire. However, he lasted just 11 balls after he miscued a short ball from De Leede to Jones at mid-on. Salt’s timing was on point to notch four boundaries, and he lined up another strike to the fence from Brandon Glover’s second delivery, only to pick out Liam Trevaskis on the fence.
Despite the fall of Buttler and Salt, Croft propelled the visitors to a healthy 58 for two at the end of the powerplay. Livingstone made a slow start after scoring only eight from his first 10 balls. The England international found his range to dispatch De Leede for back-to-back sixes. But, Livingstone was caught at long-on by Jones going for a third maximum. Daryl Mitchell displayed his class from ball one, powering a straight drive over De Leede’s head to the boundary.
But, Durham held their composure with the ball through the impressive Sowter and Raine to haul back the Lightning. Croft found his scoring opportunities limited by Sowter and eventually lost his patience and then two of his stumps to the leg-spinner. Sowter took his second when he removed Tom Hartley before Raine claimed the vital wicket of Mitchell for 31.
Parnell closed out the innings to prevent Lancashire from reaching the 160-mark. Jonathan Bushnell took an incredible diving catch on the rope to hand the South African his first wicket before he bowled Tom Bailey.
Durham made a rapid start to their chase of 153 as Graham Clark continued his run of good form with a quick-fire 26 from 13, including two sixes. Hartley made the breakthrough to pin Clark, but Alex Lees and Jones kept Durham ahead of the rate. Lees looked in prime touch, only to miss a straight delivery from Livingstone just after the powerplay.
Jones and Robinson settled in for the chase, and with the home side comfortably ahead of the rate, the two players nurdled the ball around the field to provide a match-winning platform reaching their fifty stand in 38 deliveries. Jones upped the ante in the 13th over with back-to-back straight sixes against Matt Parkinson reducing the rate below six an over.
The Scotland international’s knock was ended for 43 attempting to pull Luke Wood over the rope. Robinson and Ashton Turner whittled the total to single digits to put the hosts on the precipice of victory. And although Robinson fell for 39, Turner was there at the end to see his team over the line with 10 balls to spare.
