Points – Durham Jets 0 Lancashire Lightning 2
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Durham Jets were unable to sustain a superb start to their innings and a final score of 141 always looked as though it was 20 or 30 runs too little for the Lightning to chase.
So it proved as the veteran Ashwell Prince rode his luck – dropped twice off the same Chris Rushworth over, (the second time agonisingly by Scott Borthwick) – but anchoring his side to a six-wicket victory off 18.1 overs.
The 38-year-old favoured accumulation over acceleration – his half-century coming from 42 balls – but he was aided by some swift run-making from Karl Brown and big-hitting Aussie, James Faulkner.
Durham had started the defence of their lowly total well with John Hastings conceding just four runs from the opening over and Rushworth striking with the first ball of the second to dismiss Paul Horton for one run.
But the visitors were soon in their stride and even though Rushworth struck again to account for Brown, and Phil Mustard stumped Steven Croft off the bowling of Ryan Pringle, Lancashire’s progress continued.
Borthwick atoned for his earlier drop when he and Pringle combined for one of the catches of the season to dismiss Faulkner with Lancashire on 130-4 – Pringle sliding within inches of the cordon and scooping the ball up to Borthwick who held on to it at the umpteenth attempt.
But Prince eased his side over the finishing line with an unbeaten 63, he and his team no doubt grateful the Jets had not notched up the big score they initially threatened to.
Skipper Mark Stoneman had given Durham the perfect start, after winning the toss and choosing to bat – the hosts taking 18 from the first over.
Stoneman hit the ball powerfully and confidently on his way to 51 from just 29 balls, which included six fours and one six.
It was the only six of the Jets’ innings but that should not have proved fatal for their hopes, with Usman Arshad and Paul Collingwood having scored quickly and the team perfectly poised at 97-3 in the 11th over.
“We should have gone on to a score of 175-180 from that point,” reflected a rueful Stoneman afterwards.
“It didn’t happen for us further down the batting order but we have to take responsibility all the way down the line – a few of us got ourselves in higher up the order and got partnerships going and we should have made more of them.”
Dropped catches in the field didn’t aid Durham’s hopes on a night when the rain- never far from threatening the game – made the pitch slippy and the ball hard to grip.
Rushworth took 2-43 while Collingwood restricted Lancashire to a miserly 11 runs from his three overs but ultimately, that low total did for the Jets.
Stoneman was downcast but not defeated: “Hopefully we can turn it around,” he said.
“We messed up a couple of times last season but came through and hopefully – though we’re going to have to battle – we’ll come through again.”