Result: Leicestershire Foxes (144/8; Cosgrove 33; Collingwood 4/24; 2 points) beat Durham Jets (117/8; Coughlin 42*; Parkinson 3/20; 0 points) by 27 runs
Durham Jets fell to a third NatWest T20 Blast defeat after the table-topping Leicestershire Foxes ran out winners by 27 runs at Emirates Riverside.
The Foxes appeared to have made a hash of their innings as they subsided from 100/2 in the 12th over to 123/8 after 18.
The brakes were put on the innings by Paul Collingwood, Ryan Pringle & Adam Hickey, with the former returning excellent figures of 4/24.
The return of quicker bowlers allowed Matt Pillans to strike two fours and there were also four leg byes as 21 came off the last two overs to leave them on 144/8.
And despite Paul Coughlin’s career-best effort with the bat, it proved enough as Leicestershire learnt from the success of Durham’s spinners for Colin Ackerman and Callum Parkinson to take two wickets each in reducing the Jets to 31/5.
Left-armer Parkinson added a third to end a stand of 30 when he bowled Usman Arshad and Durham finished on 117/8.
With the Sky cameras present on a sunny evening, Durham came under fire after choosing to bowl as the visitors’ top three all made rapid progress, but Mark Cosgrove’s 33 was the top score.
He holed out at deep mid-wicket in the 16th over to become one of four victims for Collingwood, while seven overs of off-spin produced 3/33 with Pringle taking two 2/22 and Adam Hickey 1/11 in three.
They hauled Durham back into the game after Luke Ronchi and Cameron Delport put 37 on the board after four overs.
Delport departed for 29 when he sliced Rushworth to backward point, then Cosgrove opened the face and ran the first ball he faced to the third man boundary.
Ronchi reached 32 off 22 balls before dragging a Collingwood slower ball to wide long-on, where Pringle held the catch before conceding only three runs off the tenth over.
Pringle then struck twice in the 12th as a smart leg-side stumping by Stuart Poynter got rid of Ackerman then Ned Eckersley lofted to long-off.
Left-hander Hickey reached for a wide one and sliced to Delport at point from the first ball, and when Ackerman came on for the fourth over Clark pulled his first ball to deep mid-wicket.
Michael Richardson chopped an attempted cut into his stumps and Parkinson took the next three wickets.
Jack Burnham attempted a ramp to fine leg and was bowled, Collingwood chipped to deep mid-on and Arshad was bowled for 27 when Parkinson came back for his final over, the 15th.
It was left to skipper Coughlin to add an unbeaten 42, beating his previous best of 26 not out, but it wasn’t enough as the Jets fell to defeat.
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