Durham thrashed Leicestershire Foxes by eight wickets at Uptonsteel Grace Road as skipper Alex Lees hammered a superb 80 off just 44 balls with nine fours and four sixes.
Chasing 157 to complete a fourth win of a frustratingly inconsistent season, the visitors eased home with a yawning 30 balls to spare as the Foxes sunk to a fourth straight defeat and a seventh in total. Graham Clark made 38 from 23, sharing an opening stand of 114 with Lees – Durham’s quickest opening stand across all formats.
Earlier, having opted to bat first, Leicestershire rallied from 101 for seven to 156 for eight, Josh Davey top-scoring with 37 not out off 24 balls batting at nine after Ashton Turner’s 33 from 16 and Rishi Patel’s 20 off 17.
There were two wickets each for Durham pace bowler Matthew Potts (2-41) and spinners Callum Parkinson (2-23) and Nathan Sowter (2-30). Brydon Carse, who was England’s leading wicket-taker in last winter’s Ashes drubbing in Australia, returned from a six-month injury absence to take a wicket with his third ball, finishing with 1-17.
On a pitch with pace and carry, the Foxes made 50 runs in the powerplay but at a cost of three wickets.
Carse’s came gift-wrapped as Stephen Eskinazi, swinging wildly, edged behind. Rehan Ahmed launched Parkinson’s first ball for six but then top-edged Potts, who yorked Ben Green for 19 after the Leicestershire captain – unusually sent in to open – had been dropped on six and nine.
Patel looked in good touch. He found the boundary five times, had an escape on 23 as Durham’s sloppy night in the field continued, but then found the fielder at deep extra cover.
Turner, having pulled Luke Robinson for six and picked up four boundaries, was caught at long-on, after which Ruan de Swardt, the South African all-rounder signed as cover after Nick Kelly’s New Zealand call-up, lasted two deliveries, caught at long-off as former Foxes left-arm spinner Parkinson took two in three balls.
Liam Trevaskis fell for a third-ball duck but after Ben Cox’s 19, Davey plundered four fours and a six and Josh Hull squeezed out 10 off 12 balls to raise the Durham target to 157.
Yet any thoughts that the Foxes might defend that totally vanished in a storm of early sixes – four from Lees, two from Clark – as Durham chalked off 83 without loss in the powerplay. Of those, 22 came in one over off young seamer Alex Green, whose pain was only amplified by dropping Lees on 37 off the final delivery.
The skipper promptly hammered two more sixes off Liam Trevaskis, his first fifty coming from just 21 balls.
Clark departed when he found Trevaskis at deep midwicket and Lees, who had been eyeing up a hundred, was eventually bowled off his pads by Rehan Ahmed but the result by then was almost in the bag, Colin Ackermann finishing the job against his former county with a six and a four off Hull.