Leicestershire Foxes 88 for two beat Durham 115 for four by eight wickets via DLS Method
Leicestershire Foxes inflicted a damaging defeat on Durham’s bid to qualify for the Vitality Blast quarter-finals by beating the home side by eight wickets via the Duckwork-Lewis-Stern method at Emirates Riverside.
Josh Inglis and Colin Ackermann were on point for the visitors in a revised chase of 88 from nine overs, powering their way over the line with four balls to spare.
Durham posted 115 for four from 15.1 overs before rain interrupted their innings. Graham Clark and Sean Dickson scored vital runs to allow the hosts to post a competitive total. However, their bowlers struggled to contain the Foxes to slip to their second defeat on the bounce, leaving their last-eight hopes in the balance.
After inserting the home side, Callum Parkinson made immediate inroads to dismiss David Bedingham, who chipped straight to Colin Ackermann. Ben Stokes’ struggles to find his form continued as he looped an attempted pull to Parkinson at leg-slip to hand Naveen-ul-Haq his first wicket before two Foxes’ men combined again as Cameron Bancroft fell attempting a scoop shot.
Clark found his rhythm with boundaries from the off-spin of Scott Steel and Ackermann. The opener made his way to 40 before he Rishi Patel produced a fine low grab at cover, allowing Gavin Griffiths to claim his 50th T20 wicket. Sean Dickson and Ned Eckersley rallied the home side’s innings, putting on a stand of 45 before the rain brought a premature end to the Durham innings in the 16th over.
Play resumed after a stoppage of over an hour, with the Foxes chasing a revised target of 88 from nine overs. Josh Inglis got the Leicestershire innings off to a strong start, scoring two boundaries off the first two balls of Harry Crawshaw’s opening over. However, Scott Steel was run out against his former club for only two to set the visitors back in their chase. Stokes then removed Arron Lilly with a neat catch on the return to put the pressure on the Foxes.
Inglis and Ackermann responded in turn with a brilliant counterattack, whittling down the required rate with superb striking to the fence, leaving the visitors needing only 15 from the final two overs. Ackermann helped his team over the line four balls to spare scoring back-to-back boundaries off the first two balls of the final over, securing their fourth win of the competition.