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3rd July 2011

Collingwood and Blackwell inspire Durham win

Blackwell smashed 77 off just 59 balls in a batting display of sheer power, which included six fours and four sixes as he guided the Dynamos to an imposing total of 161-6. 

Former England t20 captain Collingwood then showed his ability with the ball as well as the bat, where he scored a swift 29 off 23 balls, and demolished the Royals batting line-up up with a devastating spell of 4-19 to gift the Dynamos their fifth victory of the competition. 

The home-side won the toss and elected to bat first, but got off to a bad start when Phil Mustard was bowled round his legs in just the second ball of the innings. 

This brought Blackwell to the crease and he immediately began to dominate the Royals bowlers with a series of early boundaries.

He along with Gordon Muchall helped the Dynamos recover from the early loss of Mustard before Muchall was dismissed by Saeed Ajmal for 10 leaving Durham 35-2 in the sixth over. 

Colllingwood and Blackwell showed their class in an efficient partnership of 71 which lasted a ball shy of 10 overs as the pair complimented each other with careful placement and power hitting which frustrated the Worcestershire bowlers and fielders and set the Dynamos up for a late onslaught. 

Collingwood was finally out when he was bowled by Gareth Andrew when looking for the boundary for 29 which included two fours and a huge six. 

Blackwell continued his innings in the same manner with new partner Dale Benkenstein as the pair try to move the Dynamos past the 140 mark with overs running out.

The left-hander hit Bangladesh captain Shakib Al-Hasan for a six before departing next ball caught and bowled by the spinner for a superb knock of 77.

Benkenstein added a quick-fire 22, along with 10 from Gareth Breese and 7 in the final over from Will Smith to move the Dynamos up to a competitive score of 161-6 off their 20 overs.

The Royals innings nearly got off to the same start as Durham’s but Mustard could not hold onto a knick from Moeen Ali which would have given Chris Rushworth a wicket with his second ball. 

The Worcestershire openers were going a great pace and reached 30 in just the fourth but they were pegged back when Vikram Solanki top-edged a delivery from Liam Plunkett and Mustard made no-mistake second time around and pouched the catch. 

Ali and Alexei Kervezee continued the Royals good start and were looking comfortable against the Durham seamers before Collingwood was introduced into the attack and got the wicket of Ali with just his fourth ball when the batsman was stumped by Mustard for 29.

Collingwood didn’t have to wait long for his next wicket as he caught Al-Hasan off his own bowling with his next ball to leave the Royals 60-3.

Kervezee offered some resistance as he crashed Benkenstein for six but the skipper soon had his revenge as he had the Dutch international caught on the boundary by Will Smith for 26 next ball. 

Collingwood then got the wickets of James Cameron and Gareth Andrew to put the visitors in real trouble at 92-6, as he finished with figures off 4-19 off his 4 overs.

Chris Rushworth and Mitchell Claydon were brought back on to finish the innings and shared three wickets as Rushworth picked up the scalps of Daryl Mitchell (12) and Aneesh Kapil (13).

It was Claydon who finished the Royals off winning the game for the Dynamos when he bowled Ajmal for five to seal a comfortable victory for the home-side leaving them third in the Friends Life t20 North Group with four games still to play.

The Dynamos next game is against Yorkshire Carnegie at the Emirates Durham ICG on Friday 8th July.  Tickets can be purchased in advance for £13 for adults and £6 for juniors.

At the end of the game Paul Collingwood said, “I thought was a good performance considering we didn’t  play very well against Lancashire on Friday night so its good to bounce back like that, it shows that we’ve got good character in the side.

“We showed a lot of skill tonight, Blackie with the bat was fantastic and we managed to get a good partnership going there and obviously overall I think we bowled really well to the plan and re-adjusted to the conditions.

“I thought the boys did well to get the score up to 160 and we felt on that wicket that it was a good enough score. They got off to a good start but we brought it back in the middle overs, Colonel behind the stumps was magnificent, to get two stumpings was a great effort.

“We’ve got a lot of good skills in the dressing room and we need to stay as consistent as possible in the last few games of the group stages”.