Lancs Vs. Durham Report

Croft Shines As Durham Fall Like Dominoes.

Lancashire have continued their Twenty20 success by recording what seemed in the context of this tournament like an innings victory over the Durham Dynamos. Steven Croft and Karl Brown saw Lancashire over the line as the Lightning recorded an eight-wicket victory with 6 overs to bowl. This win puts them joint top with rivals, Yorkshire, who they play on Friday and the undefeated, Nottingham, who they face the following Tuesday.

                                                                 
                                                                          Steven Croft hitting one of four sixes in his 65 not out.

Going into the game Durham appeared to have an enormous amount of batting power. Phil Mustard has the consistent ability to score runs fast and his opening partner, Herschelle Gibbs is a world-renowned T20 specialist. This season Old Trafford has been dubbed a flat wicket and the batting statistics speak for themselves. So when Durham won the toss and chose to bat it was slightly worrying if you were a Lancashire fan. Despite this it was the Lightning who made the most impressive start. Tom Smith’s first over went for just four runs and in the next over he took a priceless catch off the bowling of Arafat when Gibbs chipped the ball into the air. A simplistic catch but the implications were much more significant as it set a sombre tone to the innings. Durham were unable score runs quickly in the overs that followed as captain Glen Chapple continued his fine form with the ball. Perhaps one of the most bizarre dismissals of the season occurred, when Ben Stokes stood on his own wicket to give Chapple the wicket he deserved, leaving Durham 29-2.

Mustard and MyBurgh seemed to steady a sinking ship, until another comedy of errors saw the Durham keeper run-out due to a breakdown in communication between the two batsmen. MyBurgh has been in impressive form of late and with Dale Benkenstien, Durham formed a partnership that was beginning to put the innings back on track. It took a high quality delivery from Gary Keedy to hit Benkenstien’s off stump to swing the game once more back in to Lancashire’ favour. At 53-4 Durham needed to find consistency to reach a credible total but continued to struggle in this endeavour. MyBurgh had done all the hard work in seeing off the majority of good bowling but he went for the big shot and he was superbly caught at long-on by Steven Croft off the bowling of Keedy. Now 65-5, the Dynamo’s were getting desperate and things needed to change quickly.

Eventually Durham did get a bit of luck but they also played in a manner that really should have come sooner. An onslaught from Gareth Breese and Gordon Muchall allowed Durham to drag themselves away from defeat, for at least a while longer. Muchall scored 17 from 17 and Breese led the attack with 33 from 18. The wicket of Muchall came when he was caught by Tom Smith as Yasir Arafat became the most prolific wicket taker in domestic Twenty20, overtaking Azhar Mahmood. The cameo of Gareth Breese came to and end and with it Durham’s chances simultaneously vanished. When Breese was dismissed Durham had slumped to 109-7 and with little fire power left the innings looked all but over. There was still time for some entertainment as Keedy forced Liam Plunkett to play-on and the very next ball Mitchell Claydon chipped the ball for a superb caught and bowled as Keedy finished with 4-25. The last wicket of Graham Onions was taken after the shot of the innings as he hit Smith over long-on for six. He was eventually caught and very well to by Paul Horton when he failed to connect properly with Luke Procter’s delivery as Durham were all out for 121.

Giving Lancashire’s recent T20 success and particular the form of the top four batsmen, a target of 122 seemed so meagre to ask of the Lightning. Despite early success for Stephen Moore, hitting a six over backward-point, he was out cheaply for 8 when he was caught by MyBurgh off the bowling of Claydon. Durham had started their defence well and for a period of time Lancashire batsmen, Tom Smith and Steven Croft were struggling to score runs. These fears were put to bed when one over from Graham Onions was hit for 23 runs as Steven Croft led the Lancashire chase. The Lightning continued to chase well scoring well above the required rate and the result of this game was slowly becoming easy to work out.

Croft’s 50 came from just 34 balls and Tom Smith contributed brilliantly as Lancashire sought to chase 122 in minimal time. Perhaps in attempt to win the match in style, Tom Smith was caught by Graham Onions off of spinner Scott Borthwick for 40, in an innings containing 5 fours and a six. Karl Brown (5*) and Steven Croft (65*) were able to see Lancashire home with 6 overs left. In the context of Twenty20, a winning margin of 8 wickets and 6 overs will feel like an innings victory for Lancashire. As poor as Durham were, Lancashire played beautifully and there were four key players in this game. Bowler Yasir Arafat (3-21) who became the most prolific wicket taker in domestic T20, Gary Keedy (4-25) ripped through Durham’s middle order and had the best figures of the game, Tom Smith’s 40 from 31 balls and Steven Croft 65 from 44 balls which warranted him receiving the man of the match award.