Durham’s Second XI are heading to Arundel for T20 Finals Day for the second time in three years after defeating Leicestershire in the second T20 at the Fischer County Ground.
Neil Killeen’s side went into the double-header needing one win to secure victory & it came after stand out performances from Scott Steel & Ben Whitehead.
Despite being bowled out in 16.2 overs, they were still able to make a respectable 158 after Steel’s early onslaught. Promoted to opener, the all-rounder smashed 78 off 34 balls, including 11x4s & 3x6s.
There were quick starts for Ryan Pringle & Liam Trevaskis but Steel lacked substantial support & fell with the score on 111 through the halfway stage.
It was still a good platform & despite continuing to score at a quick rate, wickets still fell regularly. Ryan Davies made a run-a-ball 23 but the final five wickets fell inside two overs for four runs.
And after a making quick start, Leicestershire looked favourites on 60/1 through six overs.
The tide turned with the wicket of opener Tom Wells, caught off Oliver Gibson, & the spinners soon got to work to put a strangle on the run rate through the middle overs.
Leg spinner Whitehead struck twice in his first over & then again in his second, taking three wickets to reduce them to 94/6 after 13.
Sam Evans stuck in as Leicestershire tried to launch a final assault before Whitehead removed Donald Butchart to make it 4/11 in his four overs.
And Barry McCarthy helped to close the match out, handing Killeen’s side an 11-run win & the two points they needed.
Finals Day is slated to take place at Arundel on Thursday, 9 August. Lancashire have also qualified from the North Group, while Essex lead the way in the South Group with a host of teams chasing the second qualification place.
Leicestershire won the first match by 27 runs after posting 182/3 off their 20 overs, including 77 not out by opener Harry Swindells with wickets for James Weighell, Barry McCarthy & Ben Whitehead.
Steel was again on song with the bat, smashing 58 not out off 34 balls, while Michael Jones added 41, but they could only make 155/9 in reply.