Durham lie third in the Royal London One-Day Cup North Group ahead of today’s final fixture at the Lancashire Lightning.
With quarter-final places up for grabs for the top four teams, it puts Jon Lewis’ side in a good position to qualify and continue the ‘Road to Lord’s’.
But with a host of teams lurking beneath and ready to pounce on any slip ups, a defeat could leave Durham unable to progress.
The key fixtures to keep an eye on are Yorkshire Vikings vs Warwickshire & Notts Outlaws vs Worcestershire Rapids.
Should Durham defeat the Lightning, they would guarantee a home quarter-final by virtue of overtaking the Northants Steelbacks in second place. If Durham win and the Yorkshire Vikings lose, Durham win the group.
A defeat leaves Durham out of the competition if Warwickshire defeat Yorkshire and there is a winner between Notts and Worcestershire.
The potential inclement weather forecast at Trent Bridge later this evening between Notts and Worcestershire could have a bearing as a no result would see us through due to having one more win than both.
A point, either through a tie or no result, would be enough for us to qualify unless Warwickshire beat Yorkshire and there is a winner between Worcestershire and Notts – both would overtake us on net-run-rate with the same amount of wins.
In short, a win would see us safely through and a defeat could leave our fate in the hands of others.
We will be keeping an eye on each of the remaining North Group games throughout the day, with regular updates from Emirates Old Trafford, over on Twitter – @DurhamCricket.