Result: Lancashire Lightning (174/5; Livingstone 61; Pringle 3/30; 2 points) beat Durham Jets (143/8; Steel 37; Clark 3/36; 0 points) by 31 runs
A career-best T20 showing of 3/30 from Ryan Pringle could not prevent Lancashire Lightning from completing a 31-run victory over Durham Jets at Emirates Old Trafford.
Lancashire posted 174/5 off their 20 overs, with Pringle returning three wickets for the first time in his T20 career, only for Durham to respond with 143/8.
Debutant Cameron Steel led the reply with 37 but a glut of mid-innings wickets combined with a spiralling run-rate proved too much for the visitors to take control of.
Captain Paul Coughlin added the only two maximums in the innings, adding 29 to a career-best 42* in the previous match against Leicestershire Foxes.
The highlight of Lancashire’s innings was Liam Livingstone’s fifty, which included a couple of sixes off Chris Rushworth, a painful blow on the forearm from the same bowler and a quartet of boundary fours.
However, the most effective home batting was produced in the last six overs when Ryan McLaren and Steven Croft put on an unbroken 64 for the sixth wicket, a partnership which hoisted Lancashire to a better than par total.
The Lightning’s progress had initially been checked by the loss of three wickets in the opening nine overs of their innings.
The departure which disappointed the crowd the most was that of Jos Buttler, who was caught at backward point by the Durham debutant Gareth Harte off Ryan Pringle for only four but the England batsman’s dismissal followed that of Karl Brown, brilliantly caught by a diving Harte off Chris Rushworth for eight, and Arron Lilley, who was pouched by the wicketkeeper, Stuart Poynter off Coughlin for 12.
However, Durham’s pleasure at making these early breakthroughs was dulled a little by the injury suffered by Adam Hickey, who was forced to leave the field when just failing to complete a diving catch off Lilley.
Head coach Jon Lewis confirmed Hickey’s injury would be X-rayed en route back to Emirates Riverside.
Pringle had Livingstone leg before in the twelfth over when playing a rather ugly sweep and the off spinner also dismissed Dane Vilas to finish with 3/30.
But McLaren and Croft ensured that Lancashire posted a defendable total with Croft finishing on 35 not out.
Durham’s reply began with a flurry of boundaries from Graham Clark, two of which were struck off his brother Jordan, but the Durham opener was eventually caught at cover by Livingstone off McLaren for 24.
The introduction of Matthew Parkinson brought immediate success when the leg psinner had Harte leg before for 11 but Steel and Jack Burnham were maintaining the momentum of the pursuit before Burnham was bowled by Clark’s excellent slower ball.
With nine overs remaining Durham still needed 97 to win and their hopes of achieving this goal were hit when Lancashire’s Clark removed the Jets opener & Paul Collingwood in the same over.
Clark finished with 3/36 and Parkinson added the wicket of Stuart Poynter to end with two for 23 as Durham’s reply ran out of resources.
Next up for the Jets is a visit from the Outlaws on Tuesday, 25 July (6:30pm start).