Durham Dynamos seized a two run victory over local rivals Yorkshire Carnegie at Headingley in their Friends Life t20 opener on Friday
The Dynamos lost Herschelle Gibbs in the second over when he was caught by Phil Jaques off Ryan Sidebottom for 6.
Phil Mustard hit 19 as part of a 41 run partnership with Ben Stokes before he was caught by Starc off Richard Pyrah’s second delivery.
The Dynamos were 72-3 in the 11th over once Johann Myburgh (10) was trapped lbw by Moin Ashraf, he claimed his second victim an over later, bowling Stokes on 36.
The Dynamos were 122-5 after captain Dale Benkenstein was caught by Ashraf off Starc for 25.
With eight deliveries remaining Scott Borthwick (6) became Starc’s second victim when he was trapped lbw.
After a quick flurry from the remaining pair, the Dynamos posted 142 in their innings in difficult conditions.
Chris Rushworth opened the attack and struck with his second delivery with Andrew Gale caught by Muchall without scoring. The pair combined again in Rushworth’s next over, dismissing David Miller for 4 and reducing Yorkshire to 11-2 in the third over.
The hosts were 23-3 after Mitchell Claydon was brought into the attack for the fifth over and trapped Gary Ballance (6) lbw with his fourth ball.
Phil Jaques (6) was bowled by Graham Onions in his third over and he picked up his second wicket in his final over when he trapped Joe Root (14) lbw as Yorkshire fell to 42-5 in the eighth over.
A short rain break saw Durham ahead on D/L but that didn’t dampen the Dynamos spirit, they returned to the field and kept Yorkshire under control and whilst the sixth wicket partnership added fifty, Pyrah was soon seen off by Plunkett, who had him caught on 34.
A delighted Borthwick bowled Gerard Brophy (32), just as he was starting to attack, and struck again next ball with Yorkshire then requiring 21 from the remaining 2.4 overs with two wickets remaining.
In a tense finale, where Claydon and Borthwick bowled the final overs from each end, the Dynamos kept their nerve to secure the win.
At the close of play captain Dale Benkenstein said, “Obviously there are a lot of games to go but these sort of the games where you just get over the finish line make a big difference. It’s nice to see and know the character of the guys that got us over the line.
“Our opening spells with the ball showed the quality we’ve got with the new ball and if you can take wickets early on, the scores are a lot less to chase. Scotty Borthwick’s spell, to bowl leg spin at the end, was a pretty good effort. We showed quality with the bat to steady our innings in the middle and that was positive.”