Durham have pulled off a remarkable victory today at Scarborough defeating Yorkshire by 4 wickets.
The heroes were Gordon Muchall (44 no from 27) and Michael Richardson who hit his first ball faced and the third last ball of the day for 4 which meant Durham required just the one run off the two remaining balls and Richardson again made no mistake getting Durham the win with a ball to spare.
Earlier in the day Durham won the toss and elected to bowl first, sending the home-side in on a sunny Scarborough day.
Yorkshire got off to a flying start and were finding the boundaries early in their innings with openers Gale and Lyth putting on 51 for the opening partnership until spinner Ryan Pringle got Durham’s first wicket when he bowled Gale in the 7th over for 34 from 25 balls.
In his next over Pringle struck again to dismiss the Viking’s other opener with Pringle’s spin getting Lyth for 21 to have Yorkshire 62-2.
Durham then got their third wicket with Yorkshire adding just the 6 runs when Dynamos captain Paul Collingwood took a superb catch off his own bowling with the ball rocketing back to him. As soon as he caught it however he grimaced in pain and had to come from the field and off to hospital after splitting his thumb open.
Yorkshire then added another 26 runs with Ballance making 19 before he fell to a good delivery from Will Smith to leave Yorkshire 94-4 in the 14th.
Durham then got a roll and pulled the Yorkshire innings back with three quick wickets with Pryah and Rashid finding their way back to the pavilion. Pryah was clean bowled by a great delivery from Wood and Stokes then claimed his first when he bowled Rashid leaving Yorkshire 103-6.
It was then former Durham player Liam Plunkett who took it upon himself to lift the home-sides run rate, finding all corners of the ground before being dismissed in the last over for a quick-fire 30 from 16 with Richardson with a superb piece of long range fielding.
A boundary on the final ball of Yorkshire’s innings ensured they posted a competitive total 146-7.
The Durham run chase started shakily when opener Mark Stoneman was dismissed in the first over after he edged one to the keeper for just 3.
The next man in Scott Borthwick was then given a lifeline early in his innings when he was dropped in the 4th over with Durham struggling to put the runs on the board with some good bowling from the Vikings attack.
However it wasn’t long after he was dropped that Borthwick was dismissed in the 7th over looking to get the run rate up, caught in the outfield for 12.
It was then Smith and Mustard who continued to try and get the run rate up with Durham struggling at the half way mark at 48-2.
When Smith was dismissed in the 11th over and Durham 64-3 a victory looked a long way away but reliable big hitters Phil Mustard and Gordon Muchall kept the faith for the small band of Durham supporters who had made the trip to the coast.
The pair found their groove with some big hitting with Mustard bringing up his 50 with a big six into the players pavilion, his half century off 48 balls including 4 fours and 2 sixes.
Mustard departed in the 16th over and Durham needed 47 from the last four overs and it looked as though Muchall would need to do the work himself.
With 34 runs needed off the final three overs the job was not impossible and Muchall’s superb hitting continued to get Durham closer to victory when he hit 3 fours in the 19th over.
The equation was ten off the final over and when Pringle was run out with 3 balls to go it was left to the new man in Michael Richardson to get his side across the ground.
Richardson hit the first ball he faced for four and then hit the winning run to give Durham their first victory in an exciting finishing match at Scarborough.