Tom Aspinwall celebrated his T20 debut by taking four for 18 as Lancashire annihilated Durham by nine wickets in their opening Vitality Blast match at Emirates Old Trafford.
But Lancashire had to share the plaudits with Jack Blatherwick, who picked up three for 14, as Steven Croft’s side put their Championship woes behind them to chase down the visitors’ paltry 75 in exactly eight overs.
And 39-year-old Croft, who was skippering the side in the absence of back spasm victim Keaton Jennings, also got in on the act by taking a brilliant running catch to remove Matthew Potts off Blatherwick, the captain sprinting back some 40 yards from mid-off to dive full length, grab the ball in both hands and bring the home supporters to their feet.
As things turned out, Potts’ 15 was Durham’s highest score and the visitors total proved no sort of target for Lancashire’s batters, Luke Wells making 49 not out to complete the hammering
Having been asked to bat first on a pitch of some variable bounce, Durham lost a quartet of top-order batters in their first six overs and were only 31 for four at the end of their powerplay.
Alex Lees skied Luke Wood to Aspinwall at short fine-leg, Ollie Robinson was bowled by Chris Green, one of five Lancashire T20 debutants, and Aspinwall’s first short-form delivery was pulled to Green at midwicket by Graham Clark.
Jack Blatherwick then dived forward to take an outstanding caught and bowled off Ben Raine, whose 12 runs consisted solely of boundaries. But much worse was to follow in the next over when Aspinwall removed Ashton Turner, caught by Croft at mid-off for one, and bowled Michael Jones with a glorious first-ball yorker to leave the visitors’ innings in apparent ruins on 31 for six.
In his next over, Aspinwall removed Ackermann, who skied a catch to Tom Bruce at backward point, but it was left to Blatherwick to take the eighth and ninth wickets, the first thanks to that catch from Croft, which elicited an unprecedented round of applause from the press box, and the second thanks to a more conventional snare at third man by Green, which saw the end of Nathan Sowter for 1.
Ben Dwarshuis and Callum Parkinson gave Durham’s innings a patina of respectability with a last-wicket stand of 19 but Wood ended that entertainment when he had Dwarshuis caught at point by Bruce of 13, one of four double-figure scores in the visitors’ effort.
By contrast to Durham, Lancashire scored 57 for one in their powerplay overs, the only batter dismissed being Josh Bohannon for two when he chipped Parkinson’s first ball to Dwarshuis at backward point.
The remainder of the home side’s innings was dominated by the power of Wells, who clubbed three huge sixes in his 25-ball innings, and the class of George Bell, who cruised to 22 not out with strokes of unmistakable quality.
The game ended after barely 90 minutes cricket, making it a memorable evening for Croft, who was playing his 239th T20 match in his 19th season as a professional.