Lancashire Vs. Durham Yorkshire Bank 40

Mustard cuts it for Durham in YB40 opener.

It was a beautiful day at Emirates Old
Trafford, but Lancashire were beaten comprehensively.

Durham wicket keeper Phil Mustard amassed a healthy score of 91, as his side successfully chased Lancashire’s meager total of 216-9. Victory came with an astounding 5.1 overs remaining, a margin that makes this opening fixture a humiliating defeat for the home side.

Lancashire redeemed some pride, eventually removing Mustard and the impressive Ben Stokes late on in the sunny day, but Durham cruised to what was, for the majority of the game, an inevitable victory by five wickets.

Having lost the toss, stand-in captain Simon Katich’s side were asked to bat first on what seemed to be a promising wicket for batting on. Lancashire’s openers, Stephen Moore and Ashwell Prince batted in a manner suggesting that this was the case, achieving a healthy score of 69-0 after their first ten overs.

The batting power play may well have been taken at this stage, but it appears that counties are struggling to know when to utilise this feature and Lancashire’s decision not to administer this phase led to a flurry of wickets.

Moore achieved Lancashire’s highest score with 43 but when he and Prince (34) were removed in quick succession, the game became balanced. But for Durham this spell was a massive turning point, with Lancashire’s next highest scorer, Wayne White (37), achieving the only noteworthy effort of the host’s innings.

Chris Rushworth experienced little luck in the preliminary stages of the innings, but was the visitor’s key bowler, finishing with figures of 3-44, as he cleaned up the helpless Lancashire tail.

Lancashire’s score appeared to be several runs short of the ideal total and this fear was magnified by the impressive batting line-up that Durham posed as they set about their chase. Durham’s openers, Mustard and Mark Stoneman, achieved an equally impressive first-wicket partnership of 71, but the visitor’s scoring was much quicker and gave them the platform they desired. 

After Stephen Parry removed Ryan Pringle shortly after the first wicket fell, the host’s redeemed some hope of victory but, having already been afforded a miracle against Glamorgan in the Championship last week, this fortune would not occur once more.

Former England international, Paul Collingwood, joined the belligerent Mustard as the pair shared a third-wicket stand worth 90, a partnership that eradicated any chances of a revival for Lancashire.

Oliver Newby’s return to the team gave him the best figures of 2-36, but without question Lancashire’s best bowler was Parry, who afforded Durham just 29 runs from his allocation of eight overs.

But Mustard, who was eventually removed by Simon Kerrigan for 91, gave the visitor’s a match-winning innings and was supported well by Collingwood who managed 38 and his opening partner Stoneman, who scored 32.