Scorecard – Click here
On a beautiful sunny day at Brandon Cricket Club, the 2ND XI won their opening T20 game with Derbyshire.
After losing the toss, Ben Stokes smashed 47, Stuart Poynter made 27 and captain Calum MacLeod chipped in with 25 to help Durham post 166-7.
Stokes was looking in particularly fine form, striking nine boundaries in his 23 ball innings before he whipped a ball straight to midwicket. For Derbyshire, captain David Wainwright was the pick of the bowlers, with the former Yorkshire spinner taking 3-17 from his four overs.
Bowling at a lively pace, Stokes took an early wicket as he had Paul Borrington caught behind.
Returning for a second spell, the England man bowled Rehan Hassan for 19 and then disaster struck for the visitors as Paul Coughlin ran out Greg Cork.
The batsmen tried for a quick single, and Coughlin picked the ball up at point and hit the stumps at the non-strikers end with a superb throw.
Derbyshire were collapsing, and lost a third wicket in the over as Stokes then bowled Peter Drysdale to leave the visitors on 90-5.
Stokes finished with impressive figures of 4-23 after he bowled Tom Knight, and despite some innovative shots from the experienced duo of Wainwright and Mark Turner, Durham secured a 21 run win.
Durham Team – J Clark, MacLeod*, Stokes, Burnham, Breese, Poynter+, Coughlin, Ireland, Buckley, Foster, Evans.
Second match – Durham 2ND XI 205-6 (Singh 75) v Derbyshire 2ND XI 207-3 (Knight 99*, Drysdale 57). Derbyshire 2ND XI won by 7 wickets.
Scorecard – Click here
Rammy Singh hit a superb half-century but Durham missed out on back-to-back victories thanks to an unbeaten 99 from Derbyshire opener Tom Knight.
Following an injury to Jack Clark in the first match, Singh opened the innings and scored 75 from 43 balls in an innings that included 11 boundaries.
Ben Stokes (35) and Calum MacLeod (32) also took advantage of a good track and a fast outfield to propel Durham to 205-6 from their 20 overs. All of the top six reached double figures, with Derbyshire using eight bowlers as they tried in vain to stem the flow of runs.
The visitors were 47-2 at one stage but managed to keep up with the required run rate. Knight was being particularly destructive, as the opener cleared the boundary seven times during his 55 ball innings.
Knight combined with Peter Drysdale to put on 128 for the third wicket and take the visitors to the brink of victory, which was sealed with seven balls to spare.
Home skipper MacLeod proved to be the most successful bowler, with the Scot taking 1-22 from his three over spell.
Durham Team – R Singh, MacLeod*, Stokes, Burnham, Breese, Poynter+, Coughlin, Ireland, Buckley, Foster, Evans.
The 2ND XI are next in action on Wednesday the 28th of May when they play a North East Premier League XI at Benwell Hill (5.30pm start)