Lancashire v Durham Natwest T20 Blast (Day One)

DURHAM are hoping a disappointing Twenty20 campaign will not deter the fans from turning out in force for the final match at home to holders Northamptonshire this evening.

A seventh defeat in 13 games at Old Trafford last night left Durham third from the bottom in the north group as they lost by 27 runs to leaders Lancashire.

After choosing to bat first, the Lightning scorched out of the blocks with an opening stand of 84 in seven overs between Australian Usman Khawaja and South African Ashwell Prince.

Humiliation was on the cards for Durham, but the wily old campaigners Gareth Breese and Paul Collingwood pegged back the hosts and they didn’t even manage to double the score, finishing on 164 for eight.

It always seemed that Durham would need good opening stands if they were to make an impact, but Scott Borthwick’s recent promotion hasn’t helped them to materialise.

Overlooked in the England Lions squad named yesterday, he was out for five after conceding 13 in his only over.

Calum MacLeod’s runs have dried up after his promising start and once he had also departed for five Durham were again depending heavily on Phil Mustard.

He scored 30 of the 48 runs they scraped together in their first ten overs, but to score 121 in the remaining ten was out of the question.

They finished on 137 for seven.

Collingwood launched left-arm spinner Stephen Parry, who is in the Lions squad, for six before becoming a second victim for former Zimbabwe Test paceman Kyle Jarvis, who has spent most of the season in the second team.

He was playing only because Pakistani left-armer Junaid Khan, a key man in Lancashire’s T20 success, is no longer available.

Gordon Muchall went into the match topping Durham’s averages on 46.75, courtesy of six not outs in ten innings.

But by the time he got to the crease in the 13th over it was too late. He batted two places below Michael Richardson, who is unproven in this format.

It was little more than a matter of saving face as Muchall put on 42 in four overs with Mustard before the wicketkeeper holed out for 49, made off 47 balls.

Muchall fell in the final over for 37 off 22.

Lancashire’s early torrent dried to a trickle once Breese bowled Prince for 43 as only 24 came off six overs and four more wickets went down.

Breese finished with three for 19 in four overs, despite conceding ten off his first.

Keaton Jennings and Paul Coughlin performed well enough when called on to share the last four overs after Chris Rushworth had taken a battering.

Durham again left out John Hastings and Graham Onions as they want them fully fit for the start of the Royal London Cup campaign at Taunton on Sunday.

That now offers their only chance of silverware in a season in which, like the majority of counties, they have not had the financial boost they had hoped for from the NatWest T20 Blast.

Apart from Mustard, Muchall and late flurry from Breese, the batting was more of a whimper than a blast last night.

SCOREBOARD

At Emirates Old Trafford

Lancashire
U T Khawaja c Borthwick b Breese ...44
A G Prince b Breese .............................43
K R Brown c Mustard b Collingwood.. 2
P J Horton b Breese................................ 8
S J Croft c MacLeod b Jennings......... 31
A L Davies c Mustard b Collingwood .. 1
J Clark c Borthwick b Jennings........... 13
W A White not out ................................. 11
Kabir Ali c Richardson b Couglin ......... 4
S D Parry not out...................................... 0
Extras (lb2 w3 nb2 pens 0) . 7
Total 8 wkts Innings
Complete (20 overs)........ 164
Fall: 1-84 2-87 3-95 4-106 5-107 6-136
7-150 8-158
Did Not Bat: K M Jarvis.
Bowling: Couglin 3-0-30-1. Rushworth
4-0-46-0. Jennings 4-0-33-2. Breese 4-0-
19-3. Borthwick 1-0-13-0. Collingwood
4-0-21-2.

Durham
P Mustard c White b Kabir Ali.............49
S G Borthwick c Brown b White .......... 5
C S MacLeod c Brown b Jarvis............. 5
M J Richardson c Davies b Croft .......... 3
P D Collingwood c Parry b Jarvis ....... 15
G J Muchall c Khawaja b Kabir Ali...... 37
G R Breese c Jarvis b Kabir Ali........... 17
M D Stoneman not out............................ 2
K K Jennings not out ............................... 0
Extras (b1 w3 pens 0) .......... 4
Total 7 wkts Innings
Complete (20 overs).........137
Fall: 1-12 2-25 3-38 4-66 5-108 6-130
7-136
Did Not Bat: P Couglin, C Rushworth.
Bowling: Croft 4-0-21-1. Kabir Ali 4-0-
19-3. Jarvis 4-0-25-2. White 4-0-34-1.
Parry 4-0-37-0.
Lancashire beat Durham by 27 runs