Kenzie Peakman and Sebastian Hughes-Piñan star with the ball as Durham boys’ under 18 see victory over Derbyshire in a close encounter before being defeated by North Group leaders Leicestershire at Billingham Synthonia Cricket Club in the ECB T20 Cup.
Durham won the toss in their opening encounter, choosing to bat first. The opening partnership between Robbie Bowman and Charlie Coulthard was worth 33 when Bowman fell stumped for 20.
This introduced Hayden Mustard who saw Coulthard reach before he was dismissed for 19 by Harrison Parker. Mustard went on to score 27 before he was also undone by Parker, this time caught and bowled. Parker’s wickets came either side of Callum Gaffney being ran out for 10.
George Darwood and Maxwell Jackson then produced the biggest partnership of the match with their collective 58 coming from 41 balls, with 40 runs coming from the final three overs. Darwood finished not out on 25 with three fours with Jackson producing two sixes in his unbeaten 32.
In response, Durham controlled the game with the ball, never allowing Derbyshire to dictate proceedings. Sebastian Hughes-Piñan struck first before two wickets in one over from Kenzie Peakman reduced the away side to 23 for three.
Hughes-Piñan took the next two wickets, importantly dismissing Parker for 25 to put the visitors 52 for five. Peakman took another pair of wickets, first dismissing top scorer Harry Moore for 52 then claiming Harry Rickard’s wicket in the penultimate over.
The innings was wrapped up as Pip Williams was ran out with Derbyshire on 124, handing Durham a 14-run victory.
Durham were this time put into bat by opponents Leicestershire. Durham’s start was not as positive this time around as the hosts fell 22 for two. Callum Gaffney and Hayden Mustard provided some respite with scores of 22 and 23 respectively.
The latter alongside George Darwood took Durham to 82 for four, with Darwood also scoring 22. Hughes-Piñan was the last dismissed for Durham as he was ran out on 20 on the final ball of the innings leaving Durham to finish on 135 for 9.
Hughes-Piñand struck early as he had Oliver Dring out caught for seven, leaving The Foxes seven for one. Leicestershire then went on to produce a stand of 102, shared between Joe Johnson and Jake Tarling.
The partnership was broken by Hughes-Piñan as he claimed Johnson’s wicket 2 shy of the batter’s half century. Tarling could not complete the chase as he fell to Charlie Scorer on 61 with the score on 133.
Leicestershire finished the chase in style with Sam Wood hitting one over the ropes to tie up victory for the away side, as they won by seven wickets, finishing on 140. This leaves Durham in 3rd place in the North Group with a chance of progressing further into the National competition.