Durham Under 18 boys’ missed out on qualifying for the knockout stages of the ECB Under 18 T20 cup, finishing runners up to Leicestershire at York Cricket Club.
John Windows side recorded three victories in five matches to achieve a second placed finish in their group with Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire, Lancashire, Derbyshire and Yorkshire – with games played over Thursday and Friday.
Durham recorded a five-wicket victory in the opening clash against Lancashire despite losing the toss.
The Red Rose made 149/9 from their 20 overs with Will Alexander taking four wickets and Max Jackson claiming three. Corey Flintoff made an unbeaten 44 for Lancashire.
In reply, Callum Gaffney (33) and Robbie Bowman (27) led from the front with Faizan Ghunman also scoring 27. It was a nail-biting finish but Durham recorded victory with one ball to spare as Jackson and James Minto saw the D’s home.
In the second clash, Durham lost the toss against Leicestershire, being inserted and going on to make 108/7 from the full 20 overs with Jackson (27), Alexander (25) and Gaffney (20) standing out with the bat.
Durham set up another tight finish with Minto and Hughes-Piñán sharing five wickets but were unable to deny the Foxes a three-wicket victory with just one ball remaining again.
Durham’s third game came against the White Rose who won the toss and inserted Durham.
Durham ensured Yorkshire regretted their decision making a mammoth 208/6 as Luke Symington powered himself to 104 from just 50 deliveries, featuring seven fours and eight maximums, receiving support from Bowman (25) and Joe Twiddy (38).
Jackson and Hughes-Piñán took two wickets apiece with Gaffney, Minto and Will Hampson taking one each to record a 52-run victory over Yorkshire.
Durham went on to make it three wins from four after inserting Derbyshire in the penultimate game and restricting them to 144/6 with Symington and Gaffney taking a pair of wickets each with Minto and Charlie Scorer sharing two wickets.
In response, Symington (34) and Bowman (17) shared a 60-run opening partnership before losing three quick-fire wickets. Twiddy took on responsibility for Durham as he made 69* to help record a final ball victory by five wickets in another close encounter.
In the final fixture Durham faced Nottinghamshire who won the toss and made 200/6 with Sam Seecharan scoring 91n from just 41 balls. Gaffney and William Hampson both took two wickets for Durham but struggled to reduce their opponents run rate.
James Minto top scored for Durham with 35 not out but struggled for partners as Nottinghamshire took regular wickets, ensuring Durham finished 87 runs short of Nottinghamshire’s total.