The Durham Second XI side have progressed to Finals Day at Arundel on July 12th after another two victories against Derbyshire yesterday at Brandon Cricket Club.
The two wins gave Durham 7 out of 8 wins in the Twenty20 competition and put them to first place on the points table, inching ahead of Lancashire by net run rate after a sensational innings by Usman Arshad in match two saw Durham storm to the top of the table.
The second match of the day saw Durham field first and bowl Derbsyhire out for 117 after their 20 overs. It was a solid bowling display by the Durham attack with Ireland leading the way with 3-12 and Usman Arshad claiming 2-15 and Jamie Harrison 2-29.
Knowing they would need to chase the runs down in 12 overs to get their net run rate ahead of Lancashire on the points table and qualify for finals, Captain Usman Arshad took it upon himself to guide his team to finals day.
Arshad hit a superb 79 not out off 36 balls, an innings which included 8 fours and 5 sixes. The last over Durham faced went for 25 with Arshad making 24 of these runs with 6,6,4,4,4.
Earlier in the day in game one Durham won the toss and batted first making 166-4 off their 20 overs with Arshad again top scoring with 51no. Hickey and Thompson were also in good touch with the bat making 46 and 43 respectively to give Durham a solid total.
Derbyshire came close to chasing the tally down but Jennings (2-24) and Hickey (2-28) ensured they would fall 13 runs short, finishing on 153-5 off their 20 overs.
The team will now look forward to battling it out to be crowned Second XI t20 champions at Arundel on Friday July 12th.