Ali and Clark redeem pride despite loss.
Kabir Ali (59) and Jordan Clark (72) battled on despite the unlikely chance of chasing down 298 from 40 overs, especially after the less than impressive start made by the Lancashire openers. Durham completed a 39-run victory and for a long time this figure appeared as if it would be much larger, but the Lancashire men scored 64 runs in five overs to give them renewed hope.
Durham's impressive effort with the bat was belligerent, as Mark Stoneman and Phil Mustard broke the record for the highest opening partnership versus Lancashire, with 126. The home side reached 100 after just 11 overs, with Mustard in particular accelerating against Lancashire's bowlers. Stephen Parry eventually removed the keeper-batsman for 65, but by this stage the damage had already been done.
Stoneman continued to dig in, also passing fifty from a much larger 52 balls. Paul Collingwood was run out cheaply and when Scott Borthwick was dismissed, Lancashire had pulled Durham back to 157-3.
But there were still plenty of batsmen to come - the first of which was Ben Stokes (40) who offered support to Stoneman in a stand worth 49 before the opener was removed by Wayne White (2-72). Stokes and Gordon Muchall continued to build on the impressive start made by their colleagues, reaching 248 before the former was removed by Steven Croft's part-time spin.
From that point though Muchall had very little support as Durham lost four wickets for 45 runs. Ali, perhaps more renowned for his bowling, finished with 2-50, but his true role in this match was yet to be recognised. As always Parry was the most economical of Lancashire's bowlers, conceding just 38 runs from his eight overs.
Lancashire had found confidence from their late efforts with the ball, but if they were going to chase down 298 then yet more records would be broken. A good start was paramount to such an accomplishment occurring and this never came for the visitors, who found themselves 44-4.
Graham Onions is pushing for an England place and it is hardly surprising based on his performance today against the Lightning. He removed Lancashire's top three batsmen and then took the dangerous wicket of Simon Katich, finishing with 4-45.
Steven Croft's score of 26 was, at the time, the best effort of any Lancashire player, which was comparatively embarrassing to Durham's achievements. Gareth Cross and Clark mounted a 48-run partnership but there were not enough wickets to back up the best efforts of the lower-middle order. Cross was eventually dismissed by Stokes (3-50) for 36, but White and Kyle Hogg were unable to offer a miraculous recovery, both falling for single figures.
On Lancashire debut Ali had experienced a reasonable effort with the ball, but with the bat he would pull his side out of trouble and back into what, for a long time, had no right to be called a 'match'. Clark struck ten fours and a six his innings of 72 as he and Ali mustered a rapid partnership of 45. Clark reached his first List A fifty from as many balls, but was made to look slow by Ali, who reached his half-century from 22 deliveries.
His four boundaries and five sixes made many people question whether or not Lancashire were going to pull off one of the greatest comebacks, quite frankly, of all time. But when Clark was removed by Stokes, Parry was the only remaining batsmen, with Lancashire still needing 91 to win.
Who would have believed that the largest partnership of the innings would be the final stand between Ali and Parry, which was unable to see Lancashire over the line but did put the failure of the openers into perspective. The pair managed 51 before Ali tried one too many shots and was bowled by Stokes for 59.
It was an entertaining end to a disappointing day for Lancashire, who are now highly unlikely to qualify for the semi-finals of the Yorkshire Bank 40 competition this season after a run of losses which sees them go second-bottom in Group B. Durham however complete the double over their Northern rivals and improve their chances of qualification moving to second behind Hampshire, last years winners.
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