Match report: Durham v Lancs in Twenty20 2004 by Neil Adams

Scorecard:

Summary

Carl Hooper struck a superb run-a-ball 49 not out to steer Lancashire to their second victory in two days. Combined with other results in the group, this successtook Lancashire to the top of the Northern group. Once again, Lightning bowled and batted much better than their opponents, although the fielding was slightly below par. Set just 112 runs to win, Lancashire's main concern was the very poor light, which changed dramatically in between each innings. In truth, the teams should have left the field of play, but with a crowd of in excess of 5,000 the umpires were unlikely to call the game off (Especially with Lancashire well ahead on the Duckworth/Lewis calculation).

Warren Hegg won the toss for the third consecutive time. He elected to field once again. Put simply, Lancashire bowled exceptionally. The hosts only managed 4 x 4 and 1 x 6 during their entire innings, with no successful boundary strokes coming after the last ball of the 7th over. Keedy and Hooper completely outwitted every Durham batsman to such an extent that the duo only conceded 25 runs from 8 overs.

Wickets tumbled at an alarming rate once Mustard (11) departed in the 5th over. Breese followed 3 balls later to a first ball duck courtesy of a neat slip catch from Stuart Law (29-2). The Pratt brothers were both dismissed to simple stumpings by Hegg despite their father claiming that Gary Pratt's foot had not left the crease (It did!). Muchall (7) was needlessly run out in the 14th over by Hegg as he tried in vain to reach the crease at the bowlers end (74-5). Durham stumbled their way through to the end of the 20th over, reaching 111 for 8. Jon Lewis remained unbeaten on 24 from 31 balls. Only Andrew Pratt scored at greater than a run a ball (35 from 27). Chris Schofield finished with 2 for 9 from 2 overs.

Faced with a comparatively low run rate of 5.6 per over, Steven Crook needlessly lost his wicket to the fourth legal ball of the innings. Mal Loye was bowled by Neil Killeen's sixth delivery of the match to leave the visitors on 3 for 2. In poor batting conditions, Durham momentarily sensed an opportunity to salvage some pride. Unfortunately for the Dynamo's Law and Hooper combined to add 64 runs for the third wicket whilst reducing the required rate to just 4.5 runs per over. The combination of quick singles and aggressive boundaries left Durham totally unable to cope. Law finally fell for 29 to Gareth Breese's twelfth delivery of the match. The previous 11 balls had cost 25.

New players were always going to find the going hard in such atrocious conditions, especially in the face of some hostile bowling from Davies. Schofield scored 6 runs from 9 balls before watching a delivery from Bridge trickle back onto his stumps (79-5). Cork hit two sixes in a brief innings of 16 before hauling out to Gary Pratt at mid-on (105-6). Meanwhile, Hooper remained completely unphased by the poor weather conditions, or the fact he required 2 for his fifty. He simply nudged the ball off of his legs and sauntered the winning run. The teams victory was clearly more important than his personal achievement.

On a disappointing note, Durham advertised the match a sell out. Virtually no Lancashire supporters were present at the game as a consequence. However, the ground was only 80-85% full at best.

Carl Hooper was Lancashire's man of the match - 49 runs from 49 balls and bowling figures of 1 for 13 from 4 overs - Its good to have you back!

Key Notes of the Day

Lancashire won the toss and elected to bowl
Mustard caught Cork bowled Chapple 11 (Looped up to leg gully) - 27 for 1 in the 5th over - A Pratt 16*
Breese caught Law bowled Chapple 0 (First ball - first slip) - 29 for 2 in the 5th over - A Pratt 17*
50 for 2 in the 7th over - A Pratt 26* G Pratt 5*
A Pratt stumped Hegg bowled Keedy 35 - 60 for 3 in the 9th over - G Pratt 6*
G Pratt stumped Hegg bowled Hooper 6 - 62 for 4 in the 10th over - Lewis 1*
Muchall run out 7 (Hegg - rolled ball back to bowlers end) - 74 for 5 in the 14th over - Lewis 6*
Pattison bowled Keedy 1 - 78 for 6 in the 15th - Lewis 9*
Bridge bowled Schofield 4 - 92 for 7 in the 17th - Lewis 16*
Lewis 18 dropped caught and bowled chance to Mahmood (Exceptionally difficult) - 97 for 7 in the 18th over - Killeen 2*
101 for 7 in the 19th over - Lewis 20* Killeen 4*
Killeen bowled Schofield 6 - 103 for 8 in the 19th over - Lewis 20*
111 for 8 from 20 overs - Lewis 24* Davies 1*

Lancashire required 5.6 runs per over for victory
Crook caught Breese bowled Onions 0 (Mid-on) - 2 for 1 in the 1st over - Loye 1* Loye bowled Killeen 1 (Middle stump - keeper up) - 3 for 2 in the 2nd over - Law 1*
50 for 2 in the 9th over - Law 23* Hooper 19*
50 partnership - 56 for 2 in the 10th over - Law 23* Hooper 25*
Law caught Muchall bowled Breese 29 (Deep mid-wicket) - 67 for 3 in the 10th over - Hooper 30*
Schofield bowled Bridge 6 (Rolled back gently into stumps) - 79 for 4 in the 13th over - Hooper 36*
105 for 4 in the 17th over - Hooper 44* Cork 16*
Cork caught G Pratt bowled Bridge 16 (Chip to cover) - 105 for 5 in the 17th over - Hooper 44*
112 for 5 from 18.2 overs - Hooper 49* Hegg 1*
Lancashire 2 points beat Durham 0 points by 5 wickets